Hasta La Ideas

British architects Marks Barfield have designed a research centre for the Amazon Jungle with a bulging bamboo observation tower and over six miles of treetop bridges.

The centre would allow both researchers and tourists to survey the rainforest canopy from above.

Local bamboo would be used to construct the tower, which is designed as a series of off-centre circular decks that are linked by a spiralling central staircase.

Single-storey bamboo pavilions on the forest floor would house computer workstations.

This isn’t the first treetop walkway the architects have designed – see their elevated walkway in London’s Kew Gardens here.

Here’s a description of the project from Marks Barfield Architects:

Pioneering science centre in the heart of the Amazon

A pioneering science centre in the heart of the Amazon with more than six miles of walkways and an observation tower above the rainforest canopy is being planned by the Amazon Charitable Trust, a British charity.

The $10m (£6.4m) project in Roraima, a remote province of northeast Brazil, is being designed by Marks Barfield Architects who created the London Eye and designed the treetop walkway in the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

The centre, in the village of Xixuau, will bring together scientists from the Brazilian Amazon Research Institute and the Royal Botanic Gardens, universities and other organisations, and is also intended to provide jobs for Brazilian tribes and attract eco-tourists.

The site is intended to appeal equally to serious research scientists and to visitors. The walkway, high above the jungle floor, will be used by researchers to study the canopy and by tourists to experience spectacular views.

Robert Pasley-Tyler, managing partner of the Amazon Charitable Trust, said: “This will be the first scientific research centre to be built in the jungle proper. It will employ the local river tribe, giving them a way of making a living without destroying the forest, and also boost awareness around the world.”

David Marks, of Marks Barfield Architects, said that the design and construction of the centre would pose extraordinary challenges because of the delicate ecosystem and its remote location.

“You have to be very careful about what you bring in to avoid damaging the eco-system. Because it is so remote it also has to be self-sufficient.” he said.

Marks added that much of the centre could be constructed from bamboo grown on the site. The centre would take two years to construct.

The Amazon Charitable Trust is waiting to discover if funding for the centre will be granted by the Amazon Fund, which is backed by donations from Norway.

Members of the Amazon Charitable Trust’s board include Bianca Jagger and John Hemming.

Dutch architects UNStudio have designed a concrete observation tower to cantilever into the sky above a nature reserve in the Netherlands.

The 25 metre-high tower will be primarily constructed from a high-performance concrete that the studio has been researching alongside engineers ABT, developer BAM Utiliteitsbouw and concrete manufacturer Haitsma Beton.

This dense concrete strengthened by steel fibres will enable the impressive cantilever, while embedded steel members will provide additional stability.

Visitors will climb 134 steps to reach the highest of the tower’s three viewing platforms, which will be positioned five metres above the surrounding forest canopy.

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A steel mesh parapet will create a balustrade for the staircase and platforms.

We’ve featured a few observation decks and lookout towers on Dezeen – see more here, including a tower with shipping containers on top.

Other projects by UNStudio on Dezeen include a pavilion in New York’s Battery Park and an installation in an abandoned fort – see all the projects here.

Here’s a project description from UNStudio:

UNStudio’s design for an Observation Tower for ‘De Onlanden’ presented to Natuurmonumenten

On September 22nd the design for an observation tower for the nature reserve ‘De Onlanden’, situated to the South-West of the City of Groningen, was presented to Natuurmonumenten (the Dutch Society for the Preservation of Natural Heritage) during the mini-symposium ‘Experience Nature with innovative concrete’ in Peize. The observation tower is the result of a study into the optimal application of Ultra High Performance Concrete by a case study team comprising of UNStudio, ABT, BAM Utiliteitsbouw en Haitsma Beton. Natuurmonumenten received the design as a gift from the case study team.

Case Study Observation Tower Ultra High performance Concrete

The design for the observation tower is the result of a case study which aimed to apply the characteristics of Ultra High Performance Concrete in a functional, operative design. The case study team consisted of designers, engineers and builders who together sought a solution through which architecture and construction could reinforce one another. According to Ben van Berkel, “The observation tower afforded our Inventive Materials Research Platform the opportunity to investigate the properties of Ultra High Performance Concrete and to truly test out the full potential of this new material in a real structure.” Ultra High performance Concrete differs from normal concrete as it has a very high density, contains steel fibres and has an extremely fine grain structure. These properties facilitate the application of large compressive stresses in structures of narrow dimensions. UNStudio’s Inventive Materials Platform is one of four in-house research platforms and aims to investigate custom-made material applications and to facilitate inspired and imaginative collaborations with other experts and with manufacturers in the construction industry.

The Observation Tower

The 25 metre high observation tower will be realised on the forested boundary of ‘De Onlanden’ nature reserve on the outskirts of Groningen. Once built, the tower will extend 5 metres above the trees and will offer views over the 3,000 hectares of natural landscape which form the largest water storage area in the Netherlands.

The design for the observation tower guides visitors in a fluid ascent up the 134 steps to the highest viewing point. Visitors are lead via the first set of steps to the lower viewing platform which stands at a height of 10 metres. Following this, the second set of steps provides a turn in direction, allowing for an alternative view of the surrounding forested pastures. These steps lead visitors through the tree tops to the second viewing platform which stands at a height of 20 metres and offers views over the nature reserve around the city of Groningen. The highest viewing platform, at a height of 24 metres, is reached via the final set of steps and offers visitors a wide open vista of ‘De Onlanden’ nature reserve.

By means of changes in direction in the structure of the observation tower, visitors can experience views of the surrounding natural landscape from different perspectives, whereby the height of each viewing platform offers a different experience of the vistas over the surrounding landscape. From the highest viewing platform views are afforded of the Groningen skyline, which includes the Education Executive Agency & Tax office building which was also designed by UNStudio.

Ben van Berkel: “The Netherlands enjoys a rich and textured natural landscape, but unfortunately the Dutch topography is not very varied; we don’t have mountain ranges, or many hilly areas from which to enjoy a panoramic overview of our natural surroundings. The viewing tower for ‘De Onlanden’ was designed to provide the opportunity to create a new awareness and different perspectives of the landscape we move through, but may otherwise never experience in all its scope.”

The fine lines and the form of the tower bring to mind the silhouette of a deer. UNStudio’s design has therefore been given the (provisional) name ‘Het Hoge Hert’ (The Tall Stag).

The observation Tower is a hybrid construction, consisting of a combination of steel and Ultra High Performance Concrete. Steel is employed where the tensile stresses are foremost, whereas Ultra High Performance Concrete manifests excellent performance properties where the compressive stresses are highest. The parapet around the stairs and platforms is constructed from stainless steel mesh, enabling the combination of both maximum transparency and necessary safety levels.
Ben van Berkel: “The strength of Ultra High Performance Concrete is conceptually expressed in the cantilever of the structure, which combines UHPC with steel to enable a substantial protraction in the form of the viewing tower.”

Client: Natuurmonumenten
Location: Outskirts of Drenthe (near City of Groningen, Eelde and Peize)
Height: 25 m
No. of steps: 134
Programme: Observation Tower
Status: design

UNStudio: Ben van Berkel with Arjan Dingsté and Marianthi Tatari, Marc Hoppermann, Kristoph Nowak, Tomas Mokry, Dorus Faber

Case Study partners: UNStudio, ABT, Haitsma Beton, BAM Utiliteitsbouw

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Sky is the Limit by Didier Faustino	Observation Tower by terrain:loenhart&mayr	Floating Observatories by upgrade.studio

An outdoor elevator by Spanish architects Vaumm connects the mountainside neighbourhoods of a Spanish town to those in the valley.

The elevator shaft, at Errenteria in northern Spain, has a steel truss structure encased in clear glass, through which the moving elevator is visible.

At the lift summit a bridge branches outwards to meet the steeply inclining ground.

Ridged concrete wraps around the base of the tower, retaining the sloping landscape.

More stories about viewpoints on Dezeen »

Photography is by Aitor Ortiz.

Here are some more details from the architects:

Urbanisation and Urban Elevator in Galtzaraborda, Errenteria

In the middle of the 1960’s the industry of the region suffered a great development that led to the need for labor, generating new neighbourhoods in a short period of time.

These neighbourhoods, as Galtzaraborda, are usually high density areas which often have left the valley floor and its settlements begin to climb up the mountains. The buildings are placed following the logic of the topographic lines, covering different levels and creating irregular voids between them that are used to connect at maximum slope different levels.

The void space that concerns us is the natural connection between high levels of housing and the lower level occupied by the equipment, train station, sports center and nursery. This irregular and casual space is dominated by the presence of a huge tree to be maintained as a valuable witness of the change process in the neighbourhood.

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The elevator has been built “in the only place where it could be”, its location is a crossing point resulting from the rule requiring minimum distances, maintaining the view of site from the houses around and not exceeding alignments of them. The second point that determines the shape of the elevator is the position of the gateway bridge which is misalignment and tangent to the elevator to keep away from the tree, focusing the pedestrian way in the virtual axis of the void space.

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In this position, the gateway does not focus the eye on the door of the elevator, it allows the visitor to walk through it with a visual depth much more open and serves as an observation point on the environment, the distant mountains and the harbour of Pasaia. It has sought the maximum slenderness and transparency throughout the element; all pieces have been designed using rigid steel panels with truss triangulations.

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The triangulations is the answer, first, to the structural logic and second, to an industrial language, in this sense, concrete walls have been form worked with sheet metal casing to provide them the mentioned industrial character. It is constructed in order to impregnate a sentimental relationship with the industrial language of the steel manufactures and the harbour that after all gave rise to Galtzaraborda.

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Architects: VAUMM
Technical Architect: Julen Rozas
Construction: Obegisa
Project: Errenteria Garatuz
Production: City hall of Errenteria
Photography: Aitor Ortiz

See also:

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Holmenkollen ski jump by JDS Architects completed	Landmark by Birk + Heilmeyer & Knippers Helbig	Top of Tyrol by Astearchitecture

Lookout Point by Swiss architects HHF is one of eight new architectural structures along La Ruta del Peregrino, a 117km-long pilgrimage route in Mexico.

The route through the mountain range of Jalisco has been popular with pilgrims since the 17th Century, and the new structures are intended to provide shelter and serve as landmarks along the route.

Six of the eight structures along the route are now complete and the final two are under construction.

Other architects who have contributed are Fake Design, Luis Aldrete, Christ & Gantenbein, Dellekamp Arquitectos, Elemental, Godoylab, Omar Orlaineta, Periférica and Tatiana Bilbao.

Dezeen published proposed images of the Lookout Point back in 2009 (see our earlier story).

Photography is by Iwan Baan.

More stories about viewpoints on Dezeen »

More projects by HHF Architects on Dezeen »

Here is some more text from the architects:

Ruta del Peregrino
Jalisco, Mexico

Ruta del Peregrino is a religious phenomenon centred and moved by the adoration to the virgin of talpa.

La Ruta del Peregrino (Pilgrim’s Route) stretches out on a distance of 117 kilometers.

Approximately two million people participate each year in this religious phenomenon coming from different states of México to walk through the mountain range of Jalisco, starting in the town of Ameca, ascending to el Cerro del Obispo at an altitude of 2000 meters above sea level, crossing the peak of Espinazo del Diablo to descend to it’s final destination in the town of Talpa de Allende to meet with the Virgin of Talpa as an act of devotion, faith and gratitude.

This religious voyage has taken place since the 17th century, for the pilgrims the act of faith is carried to a penitence, the conditions of the route are harsh.

This sacrifice carried with austerity is an essential part of the promise or offering that become the ritual of purification.

This project aims to provide the historical route with better conditions for the pilgrims as well as to maximize the social and economical profit for this area by taking advantage of this massive event.

Based on a systematic vision the project becomes a sustainable site with different layers of meaning.

As we focus on the whole, the master plan consists of an ecological corridor with infrastructure and iconic architectural pieces that add to the religious ritual and also aim to appeal to a broader audience and allow the Route to have a flow of visitor beyond the religious.

The focus is on the iconic narrative given to the Route with 7 pieces that strongly relate both to the extraordinary landscape and to the religious ritual, becoming the imaginary landmarks of a deeply rutted phenomenon.

Each landmark by a different designer, a group of individual dialogues with specific sites and intentions that add up, to weave a single story.

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Top of Tyrol by Astearchitecture	Jübergtower Hemer Landmark	Kielder Observatory by Charles Barclay