Canadian firm Sturgess Architecture have designed a glass viewing platform to cantilever over a glacial valley in the Columbian Icefields of Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.
Called Brewster’s Discovery Walkway, the project also involves creating a 400 metre walkway in the mountainside.
Sturgess Architecture won the competition in collaboration with engineers RJC and construction company PCL.
The project is due to open to the public early next year.
Click above for larger image
Here's a little bit of text from Sturgess Architecture:
Sturgess Architecture, RJC and PCL teamed up to design the winning competition for Brewster’s newest tourist attraction in Alberta, Canada.
Overlooking the Sunwapta Valley along the Columbian Icefields in Alberta, Canada, the Discovery Walk is envisioned as an extension of the landscape; one that projects from the shear face of the mountainside to not only shelter and educate visitors, but to expose and astound them. The project weaves a continuous thread of experience through unified geometric and material forms, defining the Discovery Walk not only as a singular destination, but as a catalyst and gateway where guests experience the untouched environment in a way they never have before.
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I can see what you did there! Big déjà-vu feeling when I saw this one, definitely inspired by the Grand Canyon Skywalk.
"…catalyst and gateway where guests experience the untouched environment in a way they never have before."
Hardly untouched in my opinion. Makes you question what really is the tourist attraction: the mountain or the human intervention. I think this project is grossly overdone. :(
Wow! What a great project. I love how the structure becomes part of the mountain and is not lost in scale, how it us substantial but gives the viewer an etheral experiance on the edge of the viewing platform.
This company should be much better known.
Check out their website
http://www.sturgessarchitecture.com/
Does anyone else think the visually striking architecture competes with the natural beauty? The design conveys the perspective of man's dominion over the environment more than respect.
I wish architects were more subtle when designing for National Parks.
The first picture remember me this painting:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Caspar_David_Fr…
didnt we saw something like that on the grand canion a few years ago???
Yes, it has already been done at the Grand Canyon. Not sure if it the same architects or if even the grand Canyon was the first.
Better without, better before.
This looks EVIL.
This is less "architecture used as catalyst" than "nature used as false pretense".
I strongly recommend the architects to "cultivate" their view of nature a bit more before they tell others how to experience it.
not as elegant as the one in grand canyon! but this really reminded me of my project from uni! even the rendering speaks it!
Ugly and totally unnecessary. Architects: please take the back seat and let nature do the work.
I'm cheering for it.
It's better than Parks Canada's usually log-cabin attire.
I wonder if the total lack of railings on the rusty polygon worries anyone else.
It's just so scary cool
its really amazing project , that has his own identity which goes with the nature of the area there … the style of the project is simple , modern , and charming .
Why do we humans need a mega invasive structure in such a beautiful place in order to enjoy the landscape??? Am I the only one who thinks its better to avoid wasting lots of resourses to make a spaceship in the middle of the mountains just to make it clear that wea are the most powerful specie of the planet? great way to educate people!! ruin one of the few "untouched" landscapes left…
it's a scar on the landscape – egotistical and full of Hubris and horrible and ugly!
My boyfriend and I are exhibitionists….. looks like it would be a good place for some action
So – it's not good enough to be in awe of a beautiful panorama by just standing on a summit or cliff edge. We have to be hovering over it like some buzzard. In fact our appreciation of the sculptural powers of Nature has to be augmented with a fairground thrill ride. Pathetic. By the way the bungy jump is… where…?
Grand Canyon first…..(I think). But has any of you walk over glass at this height??
I have been at a 200mts tv tower over a horizontal window and it's not for every body
An eagles eye view.. stunning..! Life as it should be – lived to the limits of science & technology. We CAN build a better world.. for ALL human beings.
The design seems grossly out of scale, both to the surrounding environment and the people who will use the viewing platform. While I commend the effort and idea, this appears to be a case where the designers have put forward a design that is more about garnering attention in design-media-machine than actually enhancing our experience of the Rocky Mountains.
Which is bigger, the ego or the cliff? Less is more, remember?
One wonders what it will be like when it is cold, wet and freezing. Nothing like skating across a transparent glass walkway with no friction…