Watch Tower Project
Introduction
This 12-meter-high watchtower stands as a subtle landmark in the heath fields. Clad in corten steel, the tower blends naturally into the landscape, picking up the warm hues of the purple heath and contrasting beautifully with the blue sky. The design was created for an assignment to build a watchtower that offers wide views over the surrounding nature.
Concept
While the exterior focuses on blending with the environment, the interior staircase draws inspiration from M.C. Escher’s Relativity. Looking up from the ground floor, the stairs seem to intertwine and cross through each other, creating a surreal and playful spatial experience where the direction of movement becomes almost ambiguous.
Design Features
The entrance is carved into one of the corners, cut back in a triangular shape. This gesture opens the structure up and creates a more inviting entrance than simply placing a door in a flat façade. The cut corner not only guides visitors inside but also alters the flow of the structural design.
Structure
The decision to open up the entrance corner meant that the structural columns had to be adjusted: instead of placing a column neatly in the corner, two columns were placed on either side of the entrance to maintain stability.
Similarly, the large floor-to-ceiling corner windows demanded a shift in the main structure. Columns that would have originally passed straight through the corners were repositioned to the sides, allowing for uninterrupted glass surfaces and maximizing the seamless connection between the interior and the landscape outside.
To ensure safe movement through the tower — especially considering the open, layered arrangement of stairs — aluminum string nets were installed along the sides of the staircases. These nets allow visitors to safely experience the dizzying vertical openness while still being visually connected to the complexity of the stair structure.
Experience
Throughout the ascent, every corner window frames a unique perspective of the heath, while the playful stair arrangement creates dynamic visual connections across the tower. Visitors can safely look down through the intricate network of stairs, thanks to the transparent aluminum nets.
The experience culminates at the rooftop platform, where a glass balustrade offers a wide, unobstructed view over the endless heath fields — the landscape stretching out in all directions.
