This slatted wooden structure by French designer Arnaud Huart provides a beacon and landmark for visitors to the mountainous landscape of central France (+ slideshow).
Arnaud Huart of Studio Ae3 created the Signal Ethique pavilion for the top of the Puy de Dôme geological mass in France's Sancy region.
The shape is based on local landmarks around the mountainous area, combining references from chapel and castle towers.
Horizontal oriented strand board (OSB) sheets separated by timber beams create a stack of layers, echoing the geological strata created by the volcanic activity that formed the surrounding landscape.
"By its vertical shape, this small architecture looks like a lighthouse with its wide entrance and perforated attic," said Huart.
Visitors climb three steps and enter through an OSB box, which protrudes at an angle from one side, into the small space.
Internal walls taper up to a diamond-shaped skylight, covered by a Makrolon polycarbonate sheet to shelter occupants from the weather.
A small seat is built into the walls, so visitors can sit and look up at the sky through the twisted space.
"The interior of the work is intended to be conducive for a moment of rest, contemplation or meditation," Huart said.
An upper section of the structure's walls is perforated – similar to an Arabic Mashrabiya screen – to allow more natural light to filter inside that varies during the day.
At night, lights mounted onto the walls inside illuminate the tower through the latticework to turn it into a beacon that can be seen from far away.
The lighting also suggests that the pavilion is inhabited, like a watchtower or a lighthouse.
"This visual and luminous marker in the landscape wishes to bring the message away, calling curiosity by the unexpected, the unforeseen," said Huart.
The individual sections that form the 4.7-metre-high tower were cut in Huart's studio and transported to the location by truck.
The structure was assembled on site over three days, in time for the Horizons Sancy 2014 art and nature festival – an annual event that includes installations across the region, which remain in place throughout the summer.
A series of steel triangles were placed in a waterfall to interrupt the cascade by artist Laurent Gongora for the 2012 edition.
Photographs are by the designer, unless otherwise stated.