Mt Umunhum

This project encompasses the structural design of two custom shade shelters—one featuring an expansive cantilevered deck—alongside an independent structural screen for a prefabricated restroom. Situated on native ceremonial land, the design delivers a cohesive, highly durable, and culturally respectful public space.

Structural System Overview

• Cantilevered Observation Deck: One of the shelters features a structurally integrated cantilevered deck designed to overlook the adjacent valley. The floor framing is engineered to safely project over the natural grade without the need for intrusive exterior columns, preserving the undisturbed landscape of the native ceremonial land while safely supporting high-capacity pedestrian live loads.

• Heavy Timber and Steel Hybrid Frame: The two primary shelters are framed using custom heavy timber trusses supported by structural steel columns. This hybrid approach efficiently carries vertical roof loads and provides expansive clear spans, leveraging the high lateral strength of the steel columns while maintaining the rich, organic aesthetic of exposed heavy timber.

• Stone-Clad Concrete Walls: Cast-in-place concrete walls serve as critical structural elements for the shelters, engineered to provide robust shear resistance and gravity load transfer to the foundation. These high-strength concrete cores are finished with an architectural stone cladding, seamlessly integrating the heavy-duty structural system with the natural and cultural context of the site.

• Detached CMU Restroom Screen: An independent, reinforced concrete masonry unit (CMU) screen wall is engineered to surround a prefabricated restroom facility. This freestanding masonry structure is designed to independently resist environmental lateral forces—such as wind and seismic activity—while providing a resilient, low-maintenance, and vandal-resistant architectural buffer for the prefab unit.