Thinking BIG in Phoenix
Last month, Danish architecture firm BIG unveiled its plans for a landmark in Arizona's largest city that the developer hopes will become a symbol of the city much in the way Seattle's Space Needle has come to represent that great Northwestern city.
Last month, Danish architecture firm BIG unveiled its plans for an architectural landmark in Arizona’s largest city that the commissioning developer hopes will become a symbol of the city much in the way Seattle’s Space Needle has come to represent the Northwestern city.
The renderings of the 430-foot-high Phoenix “Pin” Observation Tower in downtown Phoenix are nothing less than gorgeous, though surprisingly very modernist. Taking a cue from New York’s classic Guggenheim Museum, which the firm calls the “most exciting building in the USA,” BIG explains that their plan takes the Guggenheim’s “unique experience of art display combined with the movement of the visitors” and turns it inside out with the focus being placed on the surrounding view.
In addition to the expected features of an observation space, bar/restaurant, event space, and nightclub, the plans for a gallery for what the developer’s site calls “special art and cultural exhibits.”
We’re big fans of BIG here at Hyperallergic, and we toured some of their notable buildings in Copenhagen during a trip in 2011, and we hope this impressive project — which I think looks like an amalgam of a giant honey dipper, map location pin, and golf ball on a tee — sees its day in the Arizona sun.
Visit the BIG website for more renderings and concept drawings.
