OVERVIEW Concept Statement The edge, is designed to celebrate transcendence of the Iveragh Peninsula sky. StoryIreland is infamous for its ‘end of the world’ cliff landscape. Iveragh is especially at the end, surrounded by the country’s highest mountains and vast ocean. This placement of being at the end is used to help advance the experience of being at the edge to better see and immerse oneself into the night sky. This occurrence of being at the edge leaves you to see more widely and deeply. The Iveragh Peninsula is an effortlessly beautiful region. The rugged landscape is prized by the locals and admired internationally because it has remained pristine due to its highly preserved blanket of ruins, stone forts, and castles to name a few. An aspect of the what has been untouched through the small infrastructure and minimal light pollution has continued in keeping a clear, open night sky to see the countless stars. With such clarity in the sky, this region has been certified as a Gold Tier Dark Sky Reserve. Iveragh is the only Gold Tier reserve in the northern hemisphere. This area is admired for its organic and rawness in its appearance. This new form of a science centre will bring forth a format that will expose the interconnectedness that exists between the universe and all that rests inside of it. The Edge celebrates the effortlessness of the region by creating moments to be surrounded by the universe. This space will reform how we sleep under the stars, experience events and learn by opening the viewer’s eyes to see what happens beyond the our own world through the channel of the sky. 2 The Edge
The Edge 3
Vision To experience the Dark Sky.
Mission Transforming the built, learning and personal experiences to see what a life in darkness means.
Intervention Visibility and Collaboration. This region is the only one with a gold tier sky, which is not celebrated adequately. The structure of the center would put emphasis to that.
Accessing Remote Places There isn’t a specific place where they can enjoy the breathtaking views, this sky center will aid to that need its first aim is to allow people to experience the night sky in the best way.
Long term Tourism
INSIGHTS Key Insights §§
DSR is a source of pride for locals
§§
Magnetic
§§
Engaging
§§
Effortless
This region is a beauty that is naturally made, without a human touch. Iveragh effortlessly works to be seen and admired as a beautiful region. The night sky is a eye catch visual. There is an inherent draw that is magnetic towards the stars, which then can transcend to the whole region being able to offer a magnetic night sky experience. Through the naturally beautiful landscape and sky, it encourages engagement between people and the land. This engagement demonstrates the ease of bringing people to join the region and what it has to offer. 4 The Edge
Visitors normally only stay a day for site seeing when they visit Iveragh Peninsula and don’t usually stay a full evening and hardly plan on spending the night, our centre will accommodate and draw people in specifically for the night.
Learning Through Discovery Since young people leave after high school this would create a possibility for students who graduate post-secondary to return to high-end job. This would also help students getting involved in learning new things.
Creating Employment We will be engaging with locals who have difficulty in finding employment that is more than part-time and seasonal by creating a hotel and since farming is no longer a good employment this would create more employment opportunities. This would help with keeping locals from leaving the place to look for jobs. The Edge 5
PERSONAS This space aims to welcome all. There is no set boundary for type of person, demographic or purpose as this space, is being created to celebrate the dark sky in whichever way it is desired to be experienced. With this inclusive but general aim, we have created a prioritization when addressing our targets. In researching the type of visitors to Ireland and the Southwest, Ireland it is clear that most are outdoor enthusiast, European travellers. In addition to the exploitative tourist, we aim to use this space to promote intellectuals to come and utilize the areas proximity and clarity of the space to investigate and research aspects of astronomy, astrophysics, cosmology and so on as long term visitors. The visitors and possibility of research has created a priority target of tourists and visitors that are looking for exploration, authenticity, discovery and learning. This has helped created for personas of visitors: The Traveller, The Researcher, The Resident and The Student. 6 The Edge
1 WALKMOON
2 SPACE VR
4 CONFERENCE
4 MIDNIGHT WEDDING
The traveller is someone who wished to explore more adventurous and rugged places. Filling their passport with stamps that symbolize a meaningful experience of being apart of its area. The researcher, a person who has endless questions with the desire to investigate and discover the answers by immersing themselves into the area to deepen their understanding of the world around them. The resident is someone who is local to the region, able to continuously participate in the sky experience and share their pride of the Dark Sky with any visitor. The student is someone who is interested in the comics and wishes to have opportunity to work hand on with people and labs that can develop their comprehension. This space will be able to act as a starting point to gain insight and experience with labs and research. Additionally, this space will welcome love birds, families, individuals, educational trips, weddings, conferences to come and participate being under the midnight stars. This will then aim to push the length in tourism visiting from fragmented day trips to circular overnight events.
The Edge 7
SYSTEMS DIAGRAM By building this center it would create a unique experience and cater to solving various problems faced by this region. The objective is to build a connection between people and the region through the experience gained in this center. The center would focus on encouraging people stay overnight; devote time for re-creation and engagement with nature.
This would have a positive impact on the economy due to the revenue generated by building comfortable accommodations and interactive centers. It would also provide employment to people, encouraging them to stay as many leave in search of jobs, which in turn would help improve the social conditions.
The center will focus of catering to three main aspects such as: 1) Interactive center 2) Research Center 3) Accommodation This structure would be built while still respecting the essence of the surrounding. The research center aims on introducing new technologies to help with education and to inspire and attract other university, colleges and nature lovers from all over the world to get involved and show interest in the place. Environment
Architecture
Technology
Interactive centre
+
Research centre
+
Improve
Economy
8 The Edge
Society
Accomodation
DESIGN BRIEF
“From the beginning, humans have been looking to the night sky to orient themselves, to understand what came before them, to inform their values, and guide them into the future.� The Edge 9
The Edge at Iveragh challenges us to reframe our relationship to ourselves and the Universe. A fundamental human need is to shelter ourselves from the environment. At the Edge, we will use shelter as the very portal through which we connect to the environment in a most profound way. The Edge is where we come to consider the existential questions...the mystery of the universe in its cosmic unfolding 14 billion years ago...to the emergence of the human...to our meaning and role within this awesome reality. The vastness of the universe as viewed from the Gold Tier black sky of the Iveragh Peninsula is the context within which we must come to terms with life itself...from birth, through growth and diminishment, to death... where the daily cycles of sunrise and sunset, the changing seasons in their endless repetition...the splash of the Milky Way strewn across the night sky puts us in touch with the finite and the infinite. Physically and metaphorically, we come to the Iveragh Peninsula, to embrace life on the edge. The sky centre (The EDGE) is designed to be the place for reorienting our inner self to the universe...the threshold that facilitates the connection between the tangible and the ineffable. Its alm ost invisible structure will serve as the lens through which we may discover untold truths. From the beginning, humans have been looking to the night sky to orient themselves, to understand what came before them, to inform their values, and guide them into the future. As a reflection of the cosmic sky, the design and layout of “THE EDGE” hotel reflects the Orion constellation, (one of the most accessible points of night sky orientation) and is situated on the edge of one of the Iveragh Peninsula’s prominent mountain ridges...the Edge of the world. The construction of the Hotel aims to illuminate and celebrate a new understanding of our relationship to the earth and to the universe. We draw our inspiration from the early inhabitants who embraced the earth as a nurturing mother and the sun as a nurturing father. The oculus, the eagle’s nest, the mammal’s den, a mother’s womb, beams of light from stars above are all metaphors that inform our design response.
Lodge section & lodge lighting
10 The Edge
The Edge 11
VISUAL IDENTITY The Moonwalk and Space Station programs are developed to bring people closer to the experiences of space through hand on and virtual reality. The Moonwalk is a device that will be able to let people first hand feel the moon’s gravitational pull. In other indoor interactions is the Space Station- using augmented reality through oculus rift to bring people to a new world of experiencing life on a space station. This activity will bring new understanding to what is beyond earth, gaining new perspectives and understanding to astronomy and space travel. These two programs will be featured in the last phase when implementing the centre. The two programs that will be able to be implemented with the first phase of accommodation construction is the Print Your Stars and Dark Sky Festival. The Print Your Stars program will allow guests to use a high resolution telescope and table to capture the star gazing of the night with an option to professionally print through The Edge. 12 The Edge
The Edge 13
ORANGE C: 20 M: 72 Y: 100 K: 0 This is the most profound color in space.
PROGRAMMING
The logo visualizes the intersection between both sky and land.
NAVY C: 100 M: 72 Y: 23 K: 66 Navy is used to emulate the mysterious dark sky.
BLACK AND WHITE Black and white are essential and effortless.
14 The Edge
This program aims to bring guests closer to the stars and to find opportunity to learn more deeply about the stars and their constellations. The Dark Sky Festival will act as both a promotional marketing device and program to unite those who admire the pristine dark sky and celebrate it together. This event will occur in August to allow summer break students, families and travellers to come together under the darkness. This event will encourage photography to continue in developing attention through aspects of social media and professional imagery. The placement this being late summer will also act to broaden the possibilities of visitors with drier weather condition for everyone you be able to participate from the ground.
The programming of this space has created three focuses: year round, off season tourism and an annual festival. These three focuses were developed to enhance the fragmented day trips of the Iveragh tourism into fuller, circular, overnight experiences. The aim of these programs is to offer engagement for any form of visitor, providing entertainment day and night, under any weather condition. The Moonwalk and Space Station programs are developed to bring people closer to the experiences of space through hand on and virtual reality. The Moonwalk is a device that will be able to let people first hand feel the moon’s gravitational pull. In other indoor interactions is the Space Station- using augmented reality through oculus rift to bring people to a new world of experiencing life on a space station. This activity will bring new understanding to what is beyond earth, gaining new perspectives and understanding to astronomy and space travel. These two programs will be featured in the last phase when implementing the centre. The two programs that will be able to be implemented with the first phase of accommodation construction is the Print Your Stars and Dark Sky Festival. The Print Your Stars program will allow guests to use a high resolution telescope and table to capture the star gazing of the night with an option to professionally print through The Edge. This program aims to bring guests closer to the stars and to find opportunity to learn more deeply about the stars and their constellations. The Dark Sky Festival will act as both a promotional marketing device and program to unite those who admire the pristine dark sky The Edge 15
and celebrate it together. This event will occur in August to allow summer break students, families and travellers to come together under the darkness. This event will encourage photography to continue in developing attention through aspects of social media and professional imagery. The placement this being late summer will also act to broaden the possibilities of visitors with drier weather condition for everyone you be able to participate from the ground. The two programs that will be able to be implemented with the first phase of accommodation construction is the Print Your Stars and Dark Sky Festival. The Print Your Stars program will allow guests to use a high resolution telescope and table to capture the star gazing of the night with an option to professionally print through The Edge. This program aims to bring guests closer to the stars and to find opportunity to learn more deeply about the stars and their constellations. The Dark Sky Festival will act as both a promotional marketing device and program to unite those who admire the pristine dark sky and celebrate it together. This event will occur in August to allow summer break students, families and travellers to come together under the darkness. This event will encourage photography to continue in developing attention through aspects of social media and professional imagery. The placement this being late summer will also act to broaden the possibilities of visitors with drier weather condition for everyone you be able to participate from the ground.
SUCCESS MEASURES Strength §§
one of a kind experience. This is a unique structure that will provide a new type of dark sky experiences.
§§
natural beauty
§§
celebrating an already existing pride
§§
the only Gold tier Dark Sky Reserve in the Northern Hemisphere
§§
locals are very supportive of this initiative
§§
deeper than a cost experience, creating value of the land and sky in Iveragh
Weakness 16 The Edge
§§
Needs a few years to gain financial stability to open for public events and research.
§§
the location is isolated, which may slow visitor traffic
§§
some interactive programming has never been done before
§§
ensuring that partnerships are supportive
Opportunity §§
use this clear sky to begin research
§§
Bringing in tourism that last over night, rather than fragmented day trips
§§
Developing new technologies
§§
Shifts in the type of travel: creating for slow tourism
Threats §§
Moody weather, inconsistent clear sky evenings
§§
The existing economy of the region may be limiting
§§
Sustainable financial backing
§§
External interest in using the accommodation
§§
Land regulations
In the cost analysis of the accommodation and centre, the most viable way to construct both is through a phasing of implementing the accommodation and depending on profitability waiting 2-5 years to be able to self-finance the centre that will host research labs, interactive activities and events. The 11 accommodation pods will vary in being able to host parties of 1-8 people. The capital cost currently is projected to being 1.2 million, with a maximum income of visitors of 1,259,250euro and minimum of 210,000 euro per year. In the launch of the centre, the point of income will be through the panorama room, for events such as weddings or conferences. The events will being able to earn between 150,000euro to 1.2 million annually. This space will be an opportunity for events to become spectacular under the glass dome that is able to be under the entire night sky for the events.
The Edge 17
The employment for the hotel is able to offer more than 20 part-time and full-time placements.
REFERENCES
The centre is able to offer 25 employment placements that are also part-time and full time including 3 placements designed for high school students to help facilitate the after school program to promote co-learning and community connectivity.
Beaming to space [Photograph]. N.A. Retrieved from http://kerrydarksky.com/image-gallery/
FINAL THOUGHTS It is the simplicity of the sky, landscape and presence that makes this opportunity of a sky centre so amazing. The Peninsula is already known for its untouched beauty and there is hidden magic to simply celebrating it for what it already offers- a clear, luminous night. This place will result as a chance for a different type of outdoor experience, letting people be in the region by day and have then have The Edge to see clarity in the dark. This additional experience of the night will provide new forms of authenticity and immersive experiences. The adventure tourist will be able to have first time moments of purity not just in the day time but seeing deep into the sky and the mindful, spiritual traveller will be able to engage with the naturally magnetic appeal to reconnect holistically. In the understanding and use of the powerful light that touches the edge of the peninsula to inform our purpose and design, it will further enhance the profound nature of this space. Day light will be able to infuse the building, filling the structure with natural light altering throughout the day as the earth shifts. This will be a destination for not just the tourist but for locals to come together to start a unique experience under the stars. Because this space offers opportunity to have moments of awe and wonder gazing into the starts, it welcomes all- those who will capture, gaze and question to continue a well-rounded space for admiration and curiosity to seek out answers and knowledge, spiritually and rationally. This collection of structures will not invent complexity, instead it will showcase the existing simplicity of light, and the moving horizon. The aim of creating a structure that mimics the starts and is embedded to the land will continue in respecting the space, as it is able to provide a transcending experience between visitor and the surrounding elements. A place of learning, exploration and simply being one with nature and the universe.
18 The Edge
Crago, M. (2015, March 10). Why academia should be partnering with industry. Retrieved from University Affairs: http://www.universityaffairs.ca/opinion/from-the-admin-chair/why-academia-should-be-partnering-with-industry/ Dilts, A., & Westley, F. (2009). Social Innovation Generation @ University of Waterloo. Hall, B. H., Link, A. N., & Scott, J. T. (2001). Universities as Research Partners. James Turrell Irish Sky Garden. (n.d.). Retrieved from LISS ARD ESTATE IRELAND: http://www.lissardestate.com/activities/james-turrellthe-irish-sky-garden Kerry International Dark Sky Reserve, Ireland [Photograph]. 2014. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/12/travel/dark-sky-parksand-reserves/ MRSEC Shared Facilities. (2014). Retrieved from National Science Foundation MRSEC: http://mrsec.org/facilities Nakabugo, M, Barrett, E, McEvoy, P & Munck, R (2010) ‘Best practice in North-South research relationships in higher education: The Irish African partnership model’, Policy & Practice: A Development Education Review, Vol. 10, Spring, pp. 89-98. (n.d.). Retrieved from Cité de l’espace: http://en.cite-espace.com/ Orion in the Moonlight in the Core Zone-Padraig Sands [Photograph]. N.A. Retrieved from http://kerrydarksky.com/image-gallery/ SIMULATEUR SPATIAL 3D-OCULUS RIFT. (2016). Retrieved from CAP SCIENECES: http://www.cap-sciences.net/au-programme/ateliers-jeunesse/simulateur-spatial.html Snowey Sunlight [Photograph]. N.A. Retrieved from http://kerrydarksky.com/image-gallery/
The Edge 19
Sunset over Cahersiveen [Photograph]. N.A. Retrieved from http:// kerrydarksky.com/image-gallery/ Types of Partnerships. (n.d.). Retrieved from The University of British Columbia: http://www.uilo.ubc.ca/pages/industry-engagement/partnering/types
20 The Edge