Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design students in the College of Architecture and Urban Studies are kicking off a design-build partnership with the City of Radford and the Glencoe Mansion to create a train-viewing platform highlighting the city’s history as a railroad town, as well as its budding status as a Southwest Virginia tourist destination.

A dozen students, along with Radford city and museum officials, visited the site of the future New River Train Observatory and discussed their construction plans on Jan. 22.

Nestled behind the Glencoe Mansion and overlooking Bissett Park and the New River, the New River Train Observatory is a semester-long community design-build project that pairs the College of Architecture and Urban Studies with the City of Radford. It will feature a sustainable building material new to the U.S. (cross-laminated timber), developed in collaboration with Virginia Tech’s Department of Sustainable Biomaterials in the College of Natural Resources and Environment.

The students have just launched a crowdfunding campaign, raising money to support the project at https://crowdfund.vt.edu/project/8158. The fundraiser runs through Feb. 28.

Photos and video by Olivia Coleman

Train tracks in Radford, Virginia
The New River Train Observatory will overlook train tracks in Radford, Virginia.
Student points at location
Logan Merrill (right), a graduate student studying architecture, gestures up the hill at the site of the New River Train Observatory in Radford, Virginia.
Student holds camera and looks into distance
Sara Jamal Eddin, a graduate student studying architecture, observes train tracks in Radford, Virginia.
Student sketches on a hill
Robert Riggs, a graduate student studying architecture, sketches at the site of the New River Train Observatory in Radford, Virginia, where the Glencoe Mansion is located.

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