The winding and impressive Lookout Tower was designed and constructed to mark the nature reserve of Budapest and Naplás Lake. It was designed by Robert Gutowski Architects and serves as a sculptural beacon for hikers. The imposing timber structure features unique geometry and has a simple yet complex form to it. It is an open-worked sculptural mass with a sophisticated, yet playful appeal to it. It artfully arises from the ground, looking like a natural extension of the natural environment, and gently slithers and twists up to the sky, functioning as a tall and massive tower.
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Visitors can openly enter the tower, and explore the intricate wooden form of it. You can slowly climb up the tower to enjoy and access 360-degree vistas of the stunning landscape, by peeking through the slats or entering the panorama deck at the peak. The architect designed the tower to function as a ‘port of connection’ – between man and nature, earth and sky. It serves as a space for quiet contemplating and introspection, a zone where you can peer out at the unending expanse of land around it. “As we rise from the ground, we get a better view of the outside world, but also of the inside,” said Robert Gutowski. He hopes for the tower to initiate a spiritual experience, one that allows visitors to connect with the surrounding natural environment, as they cherish the views of the nature reserves, the floodplain of the Szilas stream, and the Cinkota Park Forest.
The timber tower has been constructed upon an equilateral triangular plan, attaching its large mass to a concrete base in an interesting configuration. “The 27-meter-high top is a triangle corresponding to the ground plan of the lower level but rotated by 60 degrees. The two horizontal planes are connected by triangular front walls sloping gently inwards and outwards. The edges are formed by wooden beams coming from the summits,” said the studio. The tower is crystalline in nature, which enables it to vary from all angles, and is made up of different resting levels at heights of 6 meters.
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