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Wednesday, 8 August 2012

Palm Tree Observation Deck in Daya Vieja Spain / Joaquin Alvado

El Mirador de la Palmera by Joaquín Alvado Bañón is a dual-purpose art installation that serves to not only provide structural bracing for an important palm tree grove in the Spanish town of Daya Vieja, but also provides visitors with a long ramp that wraps around the palm trees, terminating in a lookout high above the old city. As visitors circumambulate around the grove of palms, they are offered panoramic views of the city, eventually rising to a height of 10 meters, such that they can view beyond the city boundaries and peer at the surrounding orchards and farmlands. Through this procession, viewers can experience both the flora of the city and, over the course of the year, experience the change in seasons as exemplified by that flora.
The designers utilized computer modeling to determine the thickness, location, and density of the structural supports that brace the trees and lookout alike. The structure is supported using round barsof either two, four, or six centimeters in diameter that are arrayed around the trees in a strategy similar to that utilized for the building of roller coasters. This project exemplifies a computer-driven, digitally-arrived structural expression that addresses dual programmatic purposes through the mapping of complex bearing points along the trunks of  six palm trees.

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