2016-2017 ACSA/AISC Steel Design Student Competition

Amongst the southern mountain ranges of Norway stands Trollveggen, or Troll Wall. Peaking at 3556 feet, Trollveggen casts its shadow over a beautiful five-mile valley of river and forest. As the tallest vertical rock face in Europe, the wall delivers a climbing challenge second only to Mount Everest. With the prestige of the climb, however, comes the risk of injury, or even death. Summit Climbing Retreat aims to mitigate the risk of climbing by acting as an encouraging training refuge for the aspiring climber, and doubles as an iconic tourist attraction for the people of Andalsnes, Norway.

When gripping a rock, the friction of a hand against a horizontal surface provides traction (tension). The fingers compress against the horizontal surface while the thumb or palm set against the vertical surface (compression). By adapting the physics of a basic grip to the 70,000 SF of Summit Climbing Resort, it can touch Trollveggen only where necessary, preserving the site’s natural beauty.

By activating the unique qualities of steel, the Summit Climbing Resort expresses the action of climbing in its structure, program, and utility. Sitting atop four massive friction dampers, the wide flange steel beams hang bold and strong in their center, like the body of the climber, while the hands and feet connect small and tense to the dangerous gneiss façade of the Trollveggen cliff. Twenty tension cables, buried sixty feet into the bedrock below, allow the entire building envelope to teeter delicately over the edge; only touching the cliff wall with redundant seismic dampers below, all with a natural tendency to resist the earthquakes that plague the entire region.

Summit Climbing Retreat is the global icon for extreme rock climbing. The approximately 70,000 square feet of resort amenities are designed with a focus on training the aspiring climber for the most difficult ascents attempted by man.