Climbing
Tower
Design
The LOM tower has, from the very beginning, been planned and developed to be a tower suitable for everyone. The previous fibreglass climbing tower, which was located on the same spot adorned a typical shape resembling a large rock face. This was, however, challenging to climb and required constant supervision whilst in use. This led to the idea of building a new tower that was both sustainable and more accessible.
Høyt & Lavt and LINK arkitektur were commissioned to come up with a new concept. It was decided that the tower should be constructed from wood as this versatile material makes it easy to adjust the tower to meet individual needs. We wanted a robust design that was simple, quick to build, durable enough to withstand the strongest winds in all kinds of outdoor conditions, and could also be repeated many more times across Europe. The design ensures that climbers of all abilities can safely use the apparatus with minimal supervision. The climber simply connects their harness to a magnetic automatic safety line which runs above the climber. A climbing harness and safety helmet are the only equipment needed.
The climbing tower consists of six similar, 12-metrehigh, 200mm thick, 5-layer wall elements which form a star pattern. The platform on top of the walls spans 8 metres in diameter with a hole in the centre allowing access from the central stairwell below. Five of the six walls then continue another 1.2-1.8m further in height which act as fixing elements for the netted safety railing, with one of these fins stretching 4.7m above the platform. This fin stretches out with the tower base, and holds the equipment securing the jumpers.
Project Info
Builder
Høyt og Lavt AS
www.hoytlavt.no/en/
Architecture
LINK arkitektur – Bergen
www.linkarkitektur.com
Engineering
Sivilingeniør Petter Kloster AS
Photography
LINK arkitektur-Bergen
Marit Sletten
Location
Lom, Norway
My overall goal is to use wood as a building material in all possible components of the building. Norway recently counted all our trees, showing that there are 2000 trees for each Norwegian inhabitant. When trees grow to full size in the same number of years that a human live, we have enough trees for everyone to build everything from wood without reducing the forest. Norwegian clients and decisionmakers are now ready for the transition from steel and concrete, to intelligent wooden construction and architecture. We are on top of it to make a difference.
Henning Kongshavn Frønsdal | SVAL arkitektur AS
Photo Gallery
More References
