This project given to fourth year architecture students and graduate landscape students challenged them to think about design in an open-ended, emergent way. Landscape processes, site constraints, resource limits and time become critical design determinants. This project is meant to infuse ecological literacy, and set a foundation for thinking about sustainability and transition design.
Luke Murphree's design reveals the process of the subtropical environment. Heat and humidity dance and exchange during the daily cycle. Fog lifts, rain falls, and condensation occurs. His observatory reveals this fundamental process of Tennessee Valley river and ridge landscapes.
A summary image, students must think about sequence and views - in this case, the observatory appears like a wisp in the distance. (click on all images for a larger view)
Students must accurately diagram their process to understand how it works.
Students must then locate their process on site by examining critical factors. This determines their site location. Luke takes advantage of an existing trail system, and builds a branch off of it by the river, where the fog is at its most intense.
Students must engage time as part of the design process. In Luke's project, visitor arrival occurs at night, and condensate maximum before dawn, awakens the visitor.
Sections through the observatory showing the attention to scale and comfort, along with the environmental conditions of the surroundings and the project.
In the afternoon, water condensation trapped in the structure from the evening water harvest is heated by the sun. It becomes gaseous and inflates a bladder at the top of the structure. This bladder blocks views of the landscape, creating a 'skyspace' to look at the sky and the probably storms building in the sky.
Modeling the morning experience. After waking up, visitors can move to a contoured area of the structure. There they can eat breakfast and watch the water in its fluid and gaseous states.
Detail explorations of the structure for critical elements such as structure, hand holds and water harvesting.