Educational Observatory - Building Plans

The proposed Educational Observatory building was design by a team of graduate and undergraduate students taking Architecture 545 (Construction Methods) under Professor Bruce Bassler at Iowa State University. The principal student architect on the project, Sam Bontrager, based the layout of the building to facilitate minimal obstruction of the non-circumpolar sky and at the same time incorporated isophot lines of the Milky Way and lines from major constellations. The East, South, and West walls surrounding the research telescope are hydraulically lowered into the ground as the roof slab rolls back onto (or into) the building to the north.

Floor Plan

The facility will accommodate groups up to 60 people and is designed for simultaneous use of more than a dozen small telescopes. The emphasis is observing and recording observational data by sketching, film and ccd photography, based on an observing plan.