Equipose

The premise of this project is to design a recreational tower with an observation deck using a chosen material and innovating new ways of utilizing it.

This project seeks to explore the idea of taking wood in its purest form and applying a process to it in order to realize its unlocked potential and inherent characteristics.

The wood was kerfed and modular kerfed panels were created. Kerfing imparted flexibility to the wood albeit at the cost of some structural integrity. A solution would therefore have to be created to resolve this new weakness.

By arranging the panels in a hexagonal arrangement, the simplest even sided radial arrangement, a column could be created which was significantly stronger due to the even distribution of weight amongst the panels.This column was is kinetic in nature and responds to live loads placed on it, producing a contaction/ expansion type of movement depending on the load.

Using this column, the project then sought to tackle a fundamental problem which all towers dealt with, the lack of Vertical Connectivity. The structure comprises of six core towers arranged in an alternate triangular arrangement. The towers in each arrangement are offset by half a floor, creating intricate mezzanine spaces and an elaborate circulation upwards the tower which exposes the visitors to the panoramic views of the landscape.

Through process and experimentation, the resultant structure formed was one that centered around the three core themes of : Structural Interdependence, Vertical Connectivity and Kinetic Response to Human Circulation.