The Turner Farm roll-top observatory building will include an orientation room for presentations and the study of sky charts as well as a 700 square foot observatory room housing four permanently-mounted telescopes. The lightweight, folded-plate roof structure of the observatory room is moveable and rolls open, exposing the observatory to the night sky.
The Turner Farm roll-top observatory building will include an orientation room for presentations and the study of sky charts as well as a 700 square foot observatory room housing four permanently mounted telescopes. The lightweight, folded-plate roof structure of the observatory room is moveable and rolls open, exposing the observatory to the night sky. Earth berms around the observatory room minimize the mass of the structure and protect the concrete retaining wall from heat gain so that disruption of viewing by thermal currents in the evening is minimized. A simple, low maintenance material palette is used throughout, including poured-in-place concrete, ground-faced concrete block, and stained plywood millwork. This will be the first of a series of projects constructed at Turner Farm, an astronomy museum and study center and an international sundial garden will follow the completion of the rolltop.