Design

Design Design Brief

Iceland is a scarcely populated artic island. Only 300,000 people live in Iceland, with 2/3rd of the population living in Reykjavik. With only 100,000 people populating the rest of the island, there are many wild, unpolluted places to see the northern lights. To see the aurora borealis it is essential to have dark, clear skies, which coincide with winter, well-below 0˚C temperatures and big amounts of snow. One may have to wait (and freeze at below 0˚C temperatures) for hours in the dark to catch come aurora activity. The concept is to design an all-glass observatory that allows for maximized views of the aurora borealis while at the same time maintains a pleasant interior temperature and blends in with the surroundings. A function should be proposed for the observatory so that it remains open also during the months when the nights are too bright for the northern lights to be visible (May-August). Proposed locations for the observatory are close to the Skógafoss waterfall at southern Iceland or the Sólheimasandur plane wreck.

The goal of this assigment is to design and engineer an all-glass Aurora Borealis observatory with the following requirements:

- Minimum 12m x 25 m plot size (column-free space). - The structure should be made entirely from glass. Thus, both the cladding and the load bearing elements should be made of glass. - The structure should protect the visitors against rain, wind. - The structure respects/fits the site context. - In case of damage, parts must be replaceable. - Special attention should be given to the design of the glass roof to prevent the accumulation of snow (which would result in high loads and block the aurora views). - Attention should be given in the implementation of passive measures to maintain a satisfactory temperature inside the pavilion.

Design Location

The site selected is located in Iceland with the function of an observatory for the aurora lights. This site is considered to be in the arctic climate and daylighting is limited during the winter months and in the summer months there are approximately 30 days where the sun sets for less than five hours. The aurora lights are best seen during the winter months between September and April and are caused by solar particles interacting with the magnetic field within the earth’s atmosphere, emitting photons of light, which creates the different colors of the aurora lights. In summary, the aurora lights are best seen at night during the winter season and in areas of minimal light pollution caused by adjacent buildings and lighting within the observatory must be minimal while also considering the safety of visitors.

Kirkjufell, Iceland [1]

Additional site details include the selected terrain. While Iceland has various types of terrain, beaches, mountains, and plains, a cliffside on the Snæfellsnes peninsula was selected for this project. Utilizing the cliff as a support for the glass structure, a contrast to the coarse rocks, the structural system is not only dependent on the vertical loads but also dependent on the distribution of horizontal loads into the cliffside.

Design Design Vision

In addition to the overall design criteria of the project: visibility of the aurora lights as well as a structural design using glass, design criteria were established. The design has characteristics constraints such as the utilization of only flat glass and embedded connections. The construction constraints include ease of assembly/disassembly on site, repetition of embedded connections, prefabricated unique sections and the number of minimizing unique sized panels within the design.

Design Design Evolution

Here the evolution of our design is shown. We started with a few concepts (like the cast-glass igloo, such a missed opportunity), but settled on this (as Sarah put it) geometric shape. Over the evolution we ironed out geometric issues such as unintended (double) curved panels and homogenization of panel dimensions, which makes the building far more realistic to manufacture.

Design Design Concept

Following the design brief and a series of experiments in form, the design incorporates the idea of a semicircular cone and facades inclined at an angle of 35° to hold flat glass panels. This evolved to a faceted structure. To eliminate the inclined residual and non-functional areas within the cone (where the glass meets the foundation), the cone was then raised to a height of 2.1 meters). Above the foundation, vertical facades were created to behave as viewing portals at the edges of the structure. This way a dramatic entrance was achieved at the edge of the cliff. To eliminate the accumulation of snow on the roof. The crown was designed to have an inclination of 10°. This further accentuated the form and the entrance portal.

Entrance from the edge of the Dramatic Entrance from Adding a slope on the crown Designing the core to take the

Cliff the edge of the Cliff to eliminate accumulation of loads from the entire structure snow

Adding a slope on the crown to eliminate accumulation of snow

Designing the core as a compression ring to carry loads from the entire strcuture

Design The Design

The interior space bound by the multi-faceted form was divided into two sections i.e the core (which also serves as the means to entry and exit the space) and the viewing area, which has the largest area in the building. The viewing area is designed to accommodate furniture and seating large numbers of people in the observatory. The space is also designed to house viewing portals. The inclined facade provides an uninterrupted view of the sky. The idea was to also align the seating also the multi-faceted core.

In the future steps of evolution of design, the miscellaneous service areas are accommodated within the viewing space.