ONL's Acoustic Barrier

Perspective

     It isn’t often that you get called to build a sound barrier along a highway that houses a car showroom. ONL took this challenge and ran away with it, designing a continuous mile-long structure that is seamless in its design.

Joint Connection

     The Acoustic Barrier and the “Cockpit” are made as a single structure, a set of individual poles that are cut, numbered, and bolted together. These poles combine to form an organic shape designed with the speed of a passing car. This form was created as a cloud of points with simple connecting beams. As the barrier crawls along the highway, it bends and twists in a way to make the building interesting.

Showroom Interior

  

   In the showroom area, the structure extends up and over the roof providing an immense amount of natural lighting to display the cars inside. This also allows the cars to be seen from all angles, even from across the street.

Night View

     I think that this structure is really interesting how it seems to grow from the landscape. The structure to me is the most interesting part. It seamlessly transitions from the barrier into the cockpit with little differentiation. Seen at night, the cockpit shines, clearly revealing the grid structure, and constantly displaying the luxury cars parked inside.