Platform to Nowhere

There's something amazingly simple and death-defying about the detailing of this project by Todd Saunders & Tommie Wilhelmsen in a picturesque location in Aurland, Norway. Some text via Arch Daily: "The landscape is so fantastic that it is difficult to improve the place, but at the same time very easy to destroy the atmosphere by inserting too many elements into the site. Even though we have chosen an expressive form, the concept is a form of minimalism, in an attempt to conserve and complement the existing nature."


:: image via Arch Daily

It's a simple structure, definitely aiming for a light footprint. Again via Arch Daily: "We have managed to behold all of the large pine trees on the site. This allows us to create an interaction between the structure and nature. One can walk out into the air through the treetops, helping dramatise the experience of nature and the larger landscape room."


:: image via Arch Daily

But obviously the payoff is the infinity-pool like edge that both dares you to walk to the edge - as well as test your blood-pressure (see white haired man). There is something unsettling... imagine this without the railing... how close would you get - as it no only ends... which would provide some visual termination - but it actually slides away, like an eroded slope. It's a trip, even in photographs.


:: image via Arch Daily

Dwell had some more photos showing the changing nature of the material - particularly it seems some greying or silvering of the wood as it is exposed to the elements - which I think probably makes it blend more seamlessly into the landscape and gives it some more interesting texture.




:: images via Dwell

And another photo that makes one question the strength of plate glass... it would have been really interesting to see if they could have detailed this to hide the metal brackets for the glass plate - giving you an even less obstructed view over the abyss. If you can't tell - I love this.