The road to the Çanakkale Antenna Tower (Çanakkale Radar Tepesi) ascends through a thick expanse of pine forest, away from the seafront and the busy Çanakkale centre. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to describe the first sighting of the tower as extraterrestrial, a feeling shared by an encounter with the nearby Museum of Troy by Yalın Architectural Design, a monolithic cube also coated in Corten steel.
Çanakkale Antenna Tower and viewing platform
Designed by the Rotterdam-based offices IND [Inter.National.Design] and Powerhouse Company, the project was the winning proposal of an international competition, which also shortlisted entries from firms such as Sou Fujimoto Architects, Snøhetta, and Fernando Romero Enterprise. The realised project stood out for successfully transforming a previously cluttered and ecologically compromised site into a public oasis.
Stretching 100m into the sky and constructed from modular elements on-site, the single tower in the project was engineered to withstand winds of up to 160km/h, with steel plates of up to 40mm and internal stiffeners. Ensuring a safe distance to mitigate any radiation risks, the weathered Corten steel tower stands detached from an outer viewing platform loop that embraces an inner garden of wild indigenous vegetation. The reward for strolling along this elevated platform – which evolves from a tall entrance canyon into a wide viewing terrace deck and a viaduct – is a panoramic view of the forested landscape, the city and the strait beyond it.
Below the viewing terrace, a restaurant with floor-to-ceiling glazing is also open to the public, promising unmatched scenic views. Outside, pathways are marked with small and larger stone blocks that serve as seating. It all adds to an environmentally harmonious landscape design created by the Mexico City-based firms Hugo Sanchez Paisaje and Entorno Taller de Paisaje, and Ancona-based LOOP Design.
With the technical areas cleverly concealed in an underground concrete bunker, the tower’s design was also able to avoid light pollution, using small lights along the tower, developed by the Hamburg-based firm Ulrike Brandi Licht. Further increasing its symmetry with the surrounding landscape, the project rejuvenated eroded land with healthy soil and young forest trees, achieving its aim of environmental sensitivity and consciousness.
The use of Corten steel as a finishing element further adds texture and underlines the natural aesthetic, crafting an exhibition of the rusting orange and brown hues created by the sun and wind.
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