Ocampo . Green

International Museum Of Astronomy . Atacama

design team: Julian Ocampo . Chris Green . + arquideas

IMOA, Stretched across half a kilometre, rippling across the barren landscape of the Atacama Desert, unravelling the history of astronomy with lt.

Viewed from the stars, IMOA declares a distinctive mark in the sand, bolder than the scars of nearby roads and local airstrip, The long linear plan of the museum makes a direct trajectory along a new dirt track towards San Pedro de Atacama, turning the town into a gateway to our history and understanding of the cosmos.
The slender concrete slab pushes upwards on four occasions, creating a landscape experience directly tied to the program of the building. With each rise, a different segment of astronomical history is explored - starting from our ancestors, right up to advanced research facilities of the present day. Underneath the archways, open spaces house exhibitions chronologically documenting our understanding of the stars. Up above, the roofscape creates a journey through the history of technology; visitors wander through a forest of telescopes, travelling past ever more sophisticated optics in order to gaze at the stars.