A viewing tower in the Czech Republic called Lookout Above Litomyšl, attracts attention with its industrial materiality. Architecture studio Atelier-r constructed the tower using two long, narrow shipping containers that look like a disfigured “L.”
Located on the northwestern outskirts of the town of Litomyšl, the structure sits on a plot off a hiking trail. The site offers views of both the town center and the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Litomyšl Castle. One container sits horizontally and angled slightly upwards to form a “sense of levitation” at one end. It serves as a walkway/viewing deck, featuring metal mesh screens that points towards the town.
Meanwhile, the other container stands vertically and serves as the tower. For structural integrity, the studio reinforced Lookout Above Litomyšl with a steel structure and used concrete foundations to support the two containers. The use of steel paved the creation of a staircase inside the vertical tower.
Then to preserve their authenticity, the containers retained their original surface finish in grey-weathering steel, untreated and uncleaned. Only the newly added reinforcing structures have coatings.
“Should the lookout one day cease to attract the city’s residents, though we firmly believe it will not, the structure can be easily dismantled, and the containers recycled for future use,” chief architect Miroslav Pospíšil told Dezeen.
Lookout Above Litomyšl is part of the town’s Destinations of Journeys project, which encourages locals and tourists to explore the area’s countryside. Atelier-r chose the hiking shipping containers due to financial constraints and under requirement that the built material used is reversible.
Learn More Here
Images courtesy of Atelier-r
