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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Hamiltons

Description of the Beadon Road Project for Development Securities -
(As Published online on Hamiltons Official Website)

Project Description:
The TfL site in Hammersmith sits next to the Hammersmith & City line station and platforms. The brownfield site has lain empty for many years acting as an ugly scar on the face of the busy town centre.

The redevelopment proposal is for an office building with restaurants and a cinema looking over a large area of new public realm which will continue the theme of townscape improvements started with the landscaping of Lyric Square opposite.

The large building sits as a landmark in the town, and is softened in its impact by the use of curved surfaces both on plan and in elevation. This devices of using curved forms can often present a less aggressive form in the streetscape. Edges and corners are some of the most important visual clues that help define the form scale and shape of buildings, and their absence in a building that is curved both in plan and section can have a dramatic impact on their perceived presence in the streetscape.

The building is many facetted and is perceived differently from different view points. The pedestrian at street level will not perceive the extent of the building owing to the slope at high level on elevation and as a smooth form in longer views where the normal roof top paraphernalia is contained within a louvred screen which unifies the overall concept.”

Project Details:

Client: Development Securities
Size: 45,000m²
Project Status: Planning Approved