Samitaur Tower

In Culver City, California stands the Samitaur Tower by Eric Owen Moss Architects. It is an information tower at the corner of busy streets and immediately across from a new light rail line that will arrive in 2011. The project is 72 feet high, an exception to the local height limit of 56 feet, and is intended to be seen by motorists, pedestrians and future light rail users. It consists of five circular steel rings that are about 30 feet across, and are stacked at 12 foot floor-to-floor intervals, but stagger as they rise to the north, east, south, and west. Between the rings are five translucent acrylic screens, onto which art, advertisements and local achievements will be projected. The Tower also has an open stairway to the top, as well as a glazed elevator in an enclosed glass shaft, allowing the platforms to double as public accessible viewpoints overlooking the city.