Lookouts more than any other form of architecture connect us with the world around us; they offer compelling views to stunning backdrops and expose us to the raw beauty of nature. It is why corten, or weathering steel as its more commonly known, has become such a powerful medium for its application. Developed to eliminate the need for painting and forming a rust-like appearance after years of exposure to weather, corten is perhaps the greatest example of nature exerting its power over the manmade.
Here are 10 corten lookouts that that take our breath away.
Le Chemin des Carrières by Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter
Location: Rosheim, France
Le Chemin des Carrières, the Quarries’ Track, is a lace undulating in the landscape, an invitation to travel as our ambition behind the reconquest of the Rosheim-St Nabor railway in Alsace, France. Along the 11km path goes a story, which the stops split into five chapters of different sequences of landscapes offering varied universes and highlighting remarkable sites. Unusual elements punctuate the way, aiming at awakening the visitor’s senses, and water is encountered repeatedly.
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Marsk Tower by BIG Architects
Location: Hjemsted, Denmark
The 25-meter-high Marsk Tower – translated as “Marsh Tower” due to its location in the marshlands of Denmark’s popular National Park, Wadden Sea – offers expansive views of the natural environment. Appearing as a sculptural art object rising out of the landscape, Marsk Tower will function as an observation lookout that facilitates community as a key tourist landmark. A wheelchair-accessible tower, an elevator located in the core of the tower provides access via the ground level ramp. The tower’s simple design, defined by Corten steel materiality, exudes a natural aesthetic that blends with the surrounding environment while simultaneously becoming a new, visible destination in Denmark.
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Anakkale Antenna Tower by Powerhouse Company
On a forested hilltop in the old Turkish city of Anakkale, the unique 100-meter-high design embraces the lovely landscape. By looping around the site, the weathering steel structure transforms into a tower in one fluid move, producing an immersive experience of the forest close-up while offering breathtaking panoramic views in all directions.
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Path of Perspectives Panorama Trail by Snøhetta
The Path of Perspectives or “Perspektivenweg”, designed by Snøhetta for the Nordkettenbahn cable railway, introduces a series of ten architectural elements along the panorama trail in the alpine landscape that highlight the unique features of Innsbruck’s spectacular Nordkette mountain range.
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Sonnenklang by Christoph Hesse Architects
Location: Referinghausen, Germany
On the hill dedicated to the annual Easter fire above Referinghausen thrones the Open Mind Place Sonnenklang. The tent-shaped roof over a wooden lounger captures the light rays from the evening sun and the sounds of the surrounding. Here the visitor can relax and take in the landscape.
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Trollstigen National Tourist Route Project by Reiulf Ramstad Arkitekter
Location: Rauma, Norway
Located on Norway’s west coast, Trollstigen is perched within a dramatic pass between the deep fjords that characterize the region. This panoramic site can only be visited and constructed in summer, due to severe winter weather. Despite—or perhaps because of—the inaccessible nature of the site, the project entails designing an entire visitor environment ranging from a mountain lodge with restaurant and gallery to flood barriers, water cascades, bridges, and paths to outdoor furniture and pavilions and platforms meant for viewing the scenery. All of these elements are moulded into the landscape so that the visitor’s experience of place seems even more intimate. The architectural intervention is respectfully delicate, and was conceived as a thin thread that guides visitors from one stunning overlook to another. All architecture should be perceived as built landscape rather than conventional houses which constitute foreign objects in such a context.
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Ötzi Peak 3251m by noa*
Location: Schnals Valley Glacier, South Tyrol, Italy
There is something sublime about this special place, right at the top of the Schnals Valley Glacier ridge, where Italy’s impressive alpine landscape soars high above the reservoir below, and Austria is around the corner. In this unique geographic location, fate decides whether a drop of glacier water will make its way towards the Mediterranean or the Black Sea.
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Ijssel Bridge by ModerscheimMoonen Architects
Location: Zutphen, The Netherlands
A special transformation has recently taken place in Zutphen. The characteristic Old “IJssel”-bridge has been renovated and expanded with a spacious and more comfortable pedestrian and cycling area. The extension was much needed in order to ensure an improved, safer and more aesthetic passage across the bridge. The project is part of the program “River in the city” that the municipality of Zutphen embarked on, which is supposed to give an overall quality impulse to the area around the river the IJssel. MoederscheimMoonen Architects won the tender in 2015 together with structural designer APcon BV and designed this exceptional project that has enriched the bridge with a strong gesture, a marvelous vantage point, a long bench and refined details.
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Solberg Tower by Saunders Architecture
Sarpsborg is a green, flat and calm piece of South Norway and a traditional stopover for travellers on the route to and from Sweden. In 2004, the Norwegian Highway Department together with the Regional Government approached Saunders for a new project in the area; uniquely however, without having predetermined the commission’s particular needs.
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The Norwegian Wild Reindeer Centre Pavilion by Snøhetta
Location: Dovrefjell National Park, Norway
The main purpose of the 75m^2 building is to provide shelter for school groups and visitors as mountain guides lecture about the unique wildlife and history of the Dovre Mountain plateau. Dovrefjell is home to wild reindeer herds, musk oxen, arctic foxes and a variety of endemic botanical species. A long history filled with travellers, hunting traditions, mining and military activities have left their mark on this land. Today, modern tourism and recreation continue to shape the cultural landscape of this place. Dovrefjell also holds significant importance in the consciousness of Norway. National legends, myths, poetry, music, and pilgrimages celebrate the mystic, eternal, and grounded qualities of this robust place. The founding fathers of the Norwegian constitution are “agreed and faithful, until the fall of Dovre!”
