Touching the void: this bold viewing platform brings tourists thrillingly close to nature.Three hours drive from Bergen is Aurland, a small town on Sogne og Fjordane, one of the largest and most spectacular fjords on Norway's meandering west coast. Phenomenal views attract tourists here from all over the world, but the net effect of visitor enthusiasm is an often overwhelming number of cars, buses and people, impinging not so lightly on a precious, pristine wilderness. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The Norwegian Highways Department took matters in hand and staged a competition for how tourists and nature might be reconciled. Canadian/Norwegian duo Todd Saunders and Tommie Wilhelmsen's winning proposal combines a viewing platform with obligatory lavatories and parking, but separates the various elements so that the mess and fuss of parking is at some remove from the idyll idyll or idyl In literature, a simple descriptive work in poetry or prose that deals with rustic life or pastoral scenes or suggests a mood of peace and contentment. of the viewpoint. The site is at Stegastein on a winding road Winding Road is a digital automotive magazine owned by Absolute Multimedia, Inc., of Austin, Texas, which also publishes 'The Absolute Sound' and 'The Perfect Vision.'. It focuses on enthusiast-oriented vehicles along with news covering industry buzz, upcoming events, and more. that became largely redundant when a tunnel was bored through the nearby mountain. Thrusting out 30m from the hilltop, the viewing platform is an undeniably bold gesture in the landscape, curving round and back into the hillside where its exposed steel structure is anchored by a concrete base. Prudent positioning preserves existing pine trees, so that visitors perambulate through the tree tops. Traversing the platform is not for the faint hearted. Though apparently solid and clad in strips of pine, the relative slenderness of the structure means that it does sway slightly in the wind. Those who make it to the end can savour vertiginous ver·tig·i·nous adj. 1. Affected by vertigo; dizzy. 2. Tending to produce vertigo. vertiginous adjective Related to vertigo, dizzy views over the fjord fjord or fiord (fyôrd), steep-sided inlet of the sea characteristic of glaciated regions. Fjords probably resulted from the scouring by glaciers of valleys formed by any of several processes, including faulting and erosion by , a 600m sheer drop below, uninterrupted by the niceties ni·ce·ty n. pl. ni·ce·ties 1. The quality of showing or requiring careful, precise treatment: the nicety of a diplomatic exchange. 2. of balustrading. Instead, a sheet of toughened glass Toughened glass or tempered glass is a type of glass that has increased strength and will usually shatter into small fragments when broken. Properties Toughened glass is strong, has enhanced thermal resistance, and breaks into small cuboid fragments rather than set at an angle is all that separates visitor from void. Some jury members thought the form overly gestural, but had to agree that the aim of bringing people closer to nature was triumphantly (and terrifyingly) realised. C. S. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] |
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