Lookout Tower with Treetop Walkway in Avondale Forest, Ireland

Customer Project

19 October 2022

001253

The tree tower has provided a 360-degree view of the "Avondale Forest Park" in Ireland since July 2022. At the same time, the country's first treetop path was created; it was opened by Micheal D. Higgins, President of Ireland.

Structural Design	Structural Design and Timber Structure for Tower WIEHAG GmbH Altheim, Austria www.wiehag.com Structural Analysis for Foundations Ing.-Büro Wolf GmbH, Grafenau, Germany Structural Analysis for Slide Josef Wiegand GmbH & Co. KG, Rasdorf, Germany
Architect	Stöger + Kölbl Architekten GmbH, Schönberg, Germany stoeger-koelbl.de
Investor	Erlebnis Akademie AG, Bad Kötzing, Germany www.eak-ag.de

Model Data

Model

Model | Tree Tower

Moreover, the new tourist attraction should set an example for sustainability and disability inclusion. WIEHAG GmbH from Altheim, Austria, a long-time Dlubal customer, was responsible for the structural analysis of the tower. The structural calculations were performed in RSTAB.

Tree Tower Structure

The tower, with a height of about 125 feet, has the shape of a twelve-sided cylinder that opens upwards, intended to look like a glass of Guinness. Its diameter is approx. 77 feet at the ground and 100 feet at the tower top. The primary structural system consists of 12 glued-laminated timber columns, each set up in a rotationally symmetrical manner at an angle of 30°, forming a polygonal spatial structure. The columns are supported by means of steel columns on single foundations. The tree tower is stabilized by a close-meshed net of diagonal steel members as well as horizontally running ring structures. The construction consists of local Douglas fir and larch wood, which also makes the tower climate-friendly.

Connected to the lookout tower is a 1,575-yard-long walkway winding through the treetops at a height of up to 75 feet. A viewing platform at the tower top can be reached via a spiral ramp, which never exceeds a slope of 6%, in order to guarantee continuous accessibility. The platform consists of steel cantilevers protruding outwards that connect to the timber columns, and between them, longitudinal timber beams with planking. In addition, the tower has a 295-foot-long slide that visitors can use to return to the entrance from a height of 111 feet.