Dee Wright Observatory focuses visitors' view via carefully-positioned windows that frame surrounding landforms. In the wintertime, thick ice makes the road to the observatory inaccessible to travelers.
This design for a smaller version of the observatory, located in a nearby town accessible year round, allows visitors to replicate the experience of looking through a window to see the landscape by enclosing a model of the landscape in the center of the structure. A pair of windows on opposite sides of the circular model frames each miniature landform. Instead of looking out, this facsimile of the Dee Wright Observatory invites visitors to peer inside.
Dee Wright Observatory exterior
Framed view inside Dee Wright Observatory
Climatic Simulation An insulated fountain system in the base of the model pipes water onto the tops of the miniature mountains where glaciers are located; In the winter, ice will accumulate, simulating the snow that prevents access to the actual observatory. In warmer months, the lack of ice accumulation on the model will prompt visitors to imagine a future when the mountains no longer have snow throughout the year.
Process sketch: Model glaciers, topography manipulation
Process sketch: Internal mechanism
SCHEMATIC DRAWING
A SIMULATED VISIT
In this interactive game, to establish a sense of scale, a teleportation script transports the player to the life sized version of each peak he sees through the windows. Rendered in Unity game engine.