The TATRAS TOWER lookout tower is located in the heart of mountain hiking in the town of Štrbské Pleso at the foot of the High Tatras mountain massif near the iconic Štrbské Pleso glacial lake. The tower offers stunning views of the mountain ridges and the entire distant surroundings.
 
The tower is our work from design, through construction to realization. It was built on the land of a long-term unmaintained and unused playground of a well-known cross-country ski area. It has the shape of an inclined hyperboloid, which puzzled the head of the static engineers in particular, because they had to calculate the load-bearing capacity and stiffness of each joint, as these have a decisive influence on the design and the action of the structure as a whole, especially in this case.
 
The perimeter shell of the tower is made up of 24 steel columns, which are wound in two directions and supplemented by horizontal rings. The individual rings of the tower have a variable diameter in height, with the junction of the centres of the rings forming the 15° inclined axis of the tower. The whole thus forms a spatial truss structure, the individual joints being considered rigid. In the inner side of the tower shell, a spiral walkway winds, which is supported by columns following the shape of the shell. All the supporting elements of the tower are made of steel tubes, the columns of the shell are in a single winding, clad with wooden glued prisms that change the round profile into a square one. The walkway is made of wood, and the walkway is ended at the top of the tower by a viewing platform with a net. The rearmost tip of the platform is also entirely glazed. The whole tower is then completed by intermediate viewing platforms and an escape staircase.
 
Tower height: 53 m
Tower inclination: 15°
Walkway: 580 m long
 
Completion: 10/2020
Location: Strbske Pleso, Slovakia