Bird Nest · Landmark and Observation Tower near Hochheim am Main
title: bird nest
purpose: observation-platform in a nature reserve
location: Hochheim am Main near Wiesbaden, Germany
client: Regionalpark RheinMain, Flörsheim am Main
building time: 4/2001 - 7/2001
rebuilding time: 4/2020 - 6/2020
height: 8,00 m
structural engineer: S+P GmbH, Schlier und Partner, Darmstadt
Silbersee, a nature reserve on the grounds of a former gravel pit attracts large numbers of different kinds of birds and is situated north of Hochheim, just outside Wiesbaden and Frankfurt.
It is part of a regional park project of which one of the most important objectives is to display nature in a way that allows visitors and bird watchers to observe and experience the biotopes without damaging them.
In order to protect the biotope it cannot be physically entered, but to illustrate the purpose of nature reserves immediate observation is made possible.
An artificial birds nest was considered to be an appropriate intervention for this act of observation.
This could be perceived both as a landmark and as an artefact triggering associations with the context of the nature reserve.
It is evident that the Rhine-Main-Area nature can only be recreated artificially and thus the nature reserve is as artificial as the birds nest itself.
