Rocky Forge Wind Farm | Botetourt County, VA
AIA Virginia Prize (2015)
Submitted for the AIA VA Prize which is an annual 72-hour design charrette where all architecture students in Virginia are invited to participate. The prompt asked if a wind farm could be considered a work of architecture and ‘Land Art’.
Can a proposal engage the natural phenomena of the environment to heighten perception of one’s relationship to the natural world?
A forest of columns runs along the North Mountain Ridge Line lifting visitors onto a walkway. The columns mediate the scale of the wind turbine to the human body and visually extend the ridge line, creating a place in the greater landscape of Botetourt County. A museum and visitor center welcomes visitors and lifts them into the air to a panoramic view of the surrounding area. Visitors proceed along a path that weaves through the columns to a series of observation towers offering additional views of the landscape and wind farm.
Final board submission