The goal of this open-ended, schematic project was to envision and design an observatory of some type of natural phenomena through a single-person structure in Forest Park. I decided to capture the reflections and refractions of sunlight off of a pond.

The observatory acts as a large, partly mechanical sun-catcher. Situated on the northern end of the pond and sun into the ground, it collects reflections by wrapping around a portion of water. The main facade is composed of two-sided panels, with one side being a matte surface and the other reflective. By changing the alignment of the panels, sunlight can be observed on the facade itself, allowed to pass directly through to the interior of the building, or bounced off the mirrored side into the interior. The facade continues underneath the surface of the pond, so that the surface reflections can be combined with the refractions through the water.

Professor: Sung-Ho Kim