Ann Hamilton + Jensen Architects

AIA, San Francisco 2008 Merit Award for Excellence in Architecture:
” The tower is the most recent addition to a collection of artworks designed and installed at the Oliver Ranch. Designed by the renowned artist Ann Hamilton in collaboration with Jensen Architects, the 78 foot tower is an elegant monument that is neither about views nor prominence in the landscape. Fundamentally conceived as a performance space, double helix stairs both separate and connect the performers and audience while openings in the tower allow occupants to inhabit the massive walls in various positions–sitting, standing, or laying horizontal— without giving views of the surrounding landscape. ”

” We collaborated with the artist Ann Hamilton on the development of this site-specific sculpture in the rolling hills of Sonoma County. More than a sculpture, the project is a 24′ diameter concrete tower, several stories tall, inside of which winds a double-helix spiral staircase. The structure is partially submerged below grade and is open at the top. The artist describes the project as an “un-tower”: there are no panoramic views of the landscape. Instead, the project “promises to take the visitors’ mobile eye and its corporal housing on a spiritual journey toward the light, moving progressively and incrementally away from the details of the observed world.” Jensen Architects

photo by Stephen Vincent
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