Students Construct a Dramatic 10-Meter-High Steam-Bent Lookout Tower at Helsinki Zoo

An international team of students from Finland, Japan, the U.S., the Netherlands, Italy and Portugal built this beautiful egg-shaped tower at Helsinki’s Korkeasaari Zoo. Supervised by Professor Jan Söderlund of the <a title="Students Build 10-metres High Steam-bent Tower at Helsinki’s Zoo " href="http://www.aalto.fi/en/about/history/tkk/" target="_blank">The Helsinki University of Technology</a> Wood Studio, architect Risto Huttunen and <a title="Students Build 10-metres High Steam-bent Tower at Helsinki’s Zoo " href="http://www.avan.to/" target="_blank">Avanto Architects</a>, the 10-meter-high structure was made using <a title="Students Build 10-metres High Steam-bent Tower at Helsinki’s Zoo " href="http://inhabitat.com/curvy-steam-bent-achair-is-a-wood-awards-innovation-winner/" target="_blank">steam bending</a>, a traditional and eco-friendly wood-shaping technique commonly used in boat construction.

The bubble-like Korkeasaari Zoo’s lookout tower consists of two levels wrapped around with a wooden grid shell left open at the top.

Made completely out of local laminated timber wood it was treated with non-toxic linen oil that protects the wood from aging and UV rays.

It was hand-built in only three months, using the energy-efficient steam bent technique and assembled on site.

To build the breeze tower, the students first made 3D-computer models and from that, scale models to carefully explore the structural details.

When the small models were tested, they created a laborious two-meter-high one to five model before building the 10-metres high standing tower.

A visible landmark in the Helsinki sea line, the see-through tower establishes a top connection between people and the environment.