SALT - Southern African Large Telescope

Facility (Design Considerations)

The primary function of the facility system is to provide a weatherproof, temperature controlled enclosure for the telescope as well as access for the telescope. The support facilities include a primary mirror alignment tower (CCAS tower), a control room, instrument room, electrical room, computer room, workshop, storeroom, mirror coating facility, mirror storage facility and a visitor's gallery.

The ringwall, on which the dome is supported, is 17m high with a diameter of 26m. This ringwall has a structural steel support structure cladded with insulation panels, with 61 louvers that open at night. Inside this there is a concrete pier on which the telescope rotates. The height to the top of the dome is approximately 30m and to the top of the CCAS tower is 34m.

[01] View a drawing showing the Structural Steel construction of the telescope building. Please note: the file size is 213KB.

[02] View the SALT floor plan.

NOTE: The images above are in AutoCAD DWF format, if you do not have a viewer, download it from here whip4.exe Please note: the viewer only works for Windows. When the image has been opened with the viewer, right-click on the image to zoom, pan or print.

Architect's overview

The form of the building is determined primarily by its scientific purpose and the engineering of its requirements. The architect's objective was to design a building around these constraints with a form that is self-contained and pure. The telescope housing and CCAS tower are pure to their purpose, and the minimal knuckle joining the two parts at base level emulates the flowing form of the main structure.

 

Community involvement

The design and construction of the facility are done exclusively by South African contractors, using as many workers from Sutherland as possible.

Construction

Construction of the telescope building was done by WBHO (Pty Ltd over the period February to September 2001. With temperatures often dropping below 0 °C during the day and strong winds blowing nearly everyday, Mr Mike Lewis of WBHO said that these were the most extreme conditions under which WBHO had ever worked.