Mersey Observatory by Phos Architects

Designed by Phos Architects, the Observatory will be the first spectacular landmark seen by visiting tourists on board cruise ships coming into the new landing facility at the Pier Head.It will be one of three complementary attractions making Crosby beach a genuine tourist attraction where people can spend all day.

The building will be constructed primarily from concrete, weathered steel and glass, thoughtfully sourced to be energy and cost effective. Designed and detailed to be constructed efficiently with minimal material waste, capable of deconstruction and re-use. Internal space will be passively ventilated through the lightwell and solar gain from the observation garden will be stored to heat the ground and intermediate floors. Supplementary renewable energy is provided by dedicated ‘marine current’ turbines. The proposed Mersey Observatory is the culmination of an industrial coast, signaling the transition from a man-made environment to the protected ecosystem beyond.

The concrete base flows from outside to inside, eroding to form an amphitheater, rising to form the building core, and stretching beyond into the marshland. The free-standing digital wall once seen from the landscape can now be observed at a human scale, communicating the need to preserve natural beauty.

The building is approached on foot via a new stone pathway with observation decks to study the roaring sea on one side and marshland to the other. Over the landscape through the refraction of the low-level glass appear digital visions of nature complementing and conflicting, projected from a framework of screens. Nature and technology are allowed to merge, to be studied through a digital looking glass.

Light; reaching for the sky above the observation garden is a shard of glass and light. A physical and metaphorical torch of guidance and warning, of information and reassurance, of changing seasons and attitudes.

Visitors will be drawn toward the amphitheater, toward the shaft of light from above and a glimpse of a journey to come.

Link Via [architecture.MNP]