Stargazing

FROM A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY.

During this semester we have come to recognize three

fundamentally different ways of looking at the stars and the

universe. You could bring a telescope and dive into the science

of astronomy. Or you could leave your telescope and knowledge

at home and just go out for a late evening walk. Sometimes,

it can be nice to leave houses and lights behind you, be alone

with the overwhelming starry sky, and feel just how small you

are in the bigger whole. A third way to look at the stars we find

around the fireplace on a cold, dark evening with your family

and friends, telling stories of galaxies far, far away, watching

the smoke from the fire rise towards the stars. When the

municipality of Rindal asks for a stargazing tower, we believe

all these ways of meeting the universe should be part of such a

place.

Our starting point was Kaspars project; peculiar objects

standing on the edge of the hillside. The interior is a confined

space with a continuos surface surrounding you. The only

connection with the outside is through an upward facing window

framing the sky and the stars. Alone, or with just a few others

you leave the well-known world behind you and enter a space

where your body is moving and feeling differently and the night

sky is incredibly close.

With a little comic book we wanted to tell a story to the children

of Rindal, as a way to connect the alien objects with their

imagination. The peculiar structures became small alien

children from a distant galaxy, which accidentally crashed-

landed in Rindal and made a huge crater. This story is not only

important to make a connection with the children, we also

consider it as an important part of the architectural discussion.

The crater spatially and conceptually defines a meeting-point in

the municipality where the children can visit the friendly aliens,

read stories around the fireplace and see the night sky through

an installed telescope. Moreover, the wooden structures which

is our main study, is unquestionable of both an animal and alien

character. It has been important for us to take this analogy

serious and continually discuss how the architectonic structure

and details are able to spark the imagination and create

meaning beyond mere structural and pragmatic reason.

Fig 3: Comic strip by children drawings collage

Fig 2: Site section 1:100.