Kielder Observatory, Kielder Water and Forest Park
In November 2005 Charles Barclay Architects, a small practice based
in Brixton, South London, won an international competition to build an
astronomical observatory at Kielder Water and Forest Park,
Northumberland. The competition was organised by the Kielder
Partnership with the help of the RIBA and received over 230 entries
from around the world. The Kielder Partnership has been responsible
for the commissioning of a number of interesting small buildings and
art installations around Kielder Water through their Art and
Architecture at Kielder programme. The observatory, completed in
May 2008, is the latest of these commissions.
Kielder is located in the wild landscape of Northumberland close to the
border with Scotland. It has the largest managed forest in England run
by the Forestry Commission, together with the vast Kielder Water
reservoir, completed in 1980 to supply heavy industry in Tyne Tees but
almost immediately redundant as that industry disappeared. The
Kielder Partnership is now promoting Kielder Water and Forest Park as
a leisure destination alongside the ongoing forestry activity. The area is
perfect for siting an observatory as it has the lowest level of light
pollution in England.
The design brief called for an inexpensive building suitable to house
two telescopes and a warm room, primarily intended for amateurs and
outreach work but also suitable for scientific research. The design had
to achieve a positive relation to the exposed setting on top of Black
Fell overlooking Kielder Water and had to include both the facilities
needed in this remote site and a 'social space' for interaction and
presentations, while being accessible both literally and culturally.
CBA looked at a number of alternative solutions for a suitable building
form. Since both telescope housings needed an uninterrupted view of
the southern sky (the most important view for astronomers), we
realised that with an elongated form we could use the slope of the land
to set one housing lower than the other; an open decked area between
the housings would allow amateurs to set up their own telescopes
during star-gazing events. This 'land pier' enables people to walk on at
one end and have an elevated vantage point at the far end, good for
viewing the sky at night and the landscape during the day. It touches
the ground lightly, and with a specified life-span of twenty five years,
can be removed again without difficulty in the future. It is orientated
towards the observatory's sister project, James Turrell's Kielder
Skyspace, located on an outcrop 1km away.
We wanted the experience of being on the observatory to feel like
being on a vessel at sea in this rough, open landscape, with an
amazing array of stars overhead. The pier strategy also allows for the
safe containment of large parties on dark nights when roaming
individuals could get lost or injured in the rough terrain.
CBA teamed up with another Charles Barclay for the competition, an
astronomer and director of the Blackett Observatory in Marlborough.
This collaboration gave the design team insights in to the needs of a
small observatory suitable for outreach work. The other key team
members were the structural engineers Michael Hadi Associates, who
have a particular interest in engineered timber structures.
Timber was chosen as the material for the observatory early in the
design process. Besides being a low-carbon material and the obvious
relation to its forest setting, CBA wanted a low-tech engineering
aesthetic for the observatory, the opposite of the NASA-inspired world
of high tech, high expense and exclusive science. Instead, we wanted
to evoke the curious, ad-hoc structures that have served as
observatories down the ages, and to the timber structures of the
rural/industrial landscape at Kielder, the pit props of small coal mines
and the timber trestle bridges of the railway that served them. We felt
that a beautifully hand-crafted timber building with 'Victorian'
engineering would be more inspiring in this setting than seamless,
glossy domes.
The observatory accommodation was arranged sequentially as a
series of event spaces, creating a 'promenade architecturale' and the
possibility of having a number of separate groups on the observatory
at the same time. The sequence starts with the covered entrance area
with a bench seat and astronomer's notice board, and an opening that
acts as the only window in the building. From here you enter the warm
room, illuminated by rooflights, where slide lectures can be held or
astronomers can conduct all-night vigils using computers to control
the Meade telescope in the small turret next door. Double doors lead
from the warm room to the gangway and then to the observation deck
between the turrets. You descend a ramp to the entrance to the Pulsar
turret where the elegant Pulsar 20 inch telescope is gradually revealed
as you ascend a second, spiral ramp to the raised observation floor. A
composting WC completes the accommodation, an ecological choice
and one that avoids storing water in a building that is subject to sub
zero temperatures during winter.
We rejected the traditional domed form of the telescope enclosures,
wanting to take advantage of the self-transforming possibilities of
rotating architecture. The turrets sit square to the building when not in
use; when closed the building is not obviously an observatory, but
resembles an austere modernist pavilion or belvedere. However, when
in use the observatory becomes expressive, with the turrets rotated
and shutters open, alive with strange geometries and altered
orientations.
The very high wind loads combined with cantilevered elements called
for higher strength timbers than the fast-growing Sitka Spruce that is
grown at Kielder. Siberian larch was used for the secondary structure
and cladding, American Douglas Fir for the timber columns and
cantilever beams and European redwood for other framing elements,
all fire-treated by Arch Timber Preservation. The spruce and birch
plywood linings utilise stressed-skin technology to brace the
cantilevers and special non-slip decking ensures safety during icy
conditions. The timber structure has transverse and longitudinal cross-
bracing and the cast concrete approach ramp helps to anchor it to the
hillside.
The rotating turrets are built off steel octagons with eight wheels that
bear on a circular track, itself supported on stationary steel octagon
built on the timber framing below. The turning mechanism is a rack
and pinion, hand operated by a large stainless steel wheel and handle,
with a gear box to allow sufficient turning moment to move the six-
tonne turrets. The telescopes have concrete-filled tubular steel
columns as their mounts, entirely separate from the timber structure to
ensure they are vibration-free. These steel elements, together with the
escape stair and handrails, were all fabricated and installed by John
Aynsley metalwork of Newcastle.
The observatory shutters were developed with Surespan, a company
that makes access hatches and shutters in the Midlands. As the
vertical and horizontal shutters have to open and close in sequence, it
was decided that they should be operated by computer-controlled
electro-hydraulic servos. The anodised aluminium of the shutters and
their brackets was left exposed , gleaming elements that hint at the
advanced equipment housed inside.
The power strategy for the observatory was developed with a local
renewables specialist Winsund, who have built up experience installing
wind and solar power systems at remote Northumberland farms where
mains electricity is not available. The site is very windy and normal
power needs are met by the 2.5kW wind turbine. In calm conditions,
ten 130pW photo voltaic panels keep the 24 deep cell batteries
powered up. There is a dual white and red lighting system; the red
light is used during observation to preserve night vision.
Poor mobile phone coverage means that links to the internet are
currently unreliable and the clients are looking at installing an infra-red
telelink to a receiver in Kielder Valley to allow improved
communication with the outside world. The observatory has been
handed over to the Kielder Observatory Astronomical Society and is
already proving popular with local astronomers and the public; the
next step is for it take part in scientific research initiated by the
universities in the north of England.
Structural Engineer: Michael Hadi Associates
Quantity Surveyor: Burke Hunter Adams
Astronomical advisor: Charlie Barclay, director Blackett
Observatory
Main contractor: Stephen Mersh
Client: Kielder Partnership
User group: Kielder Observatory Astronomical Society