Coordination in building an observatory: A case study of Eastern Anatolian Observatory (DAG)

Abstract

Eastern Anatolian Observatory (DAG) is designed to build on one of the summits of Palandoken Mountains in Erzurum, Turkey, at an altitude of 3,151 meters. The building is under construction since 2015 and expected to be completed in 2020. The building is designed as an integrated building, having operational departments, services, mechanical and electrical infrastructure for observations as well as cleaning and coating units, adjacent to the main observatory building. As one might expect this integration creates serious coordination problems between architect, engineers, telescope, enclosure, and cleaning & coating unit manufacturers. The construction progress of the investment is almost 20%. There are quite an amount of "lessons learned" in this period, and need to be developed by the parties, for their existing and future works. The building has so many challenges such as geological and geographical limitations, environmental and meteorological constraints, engineering and structural considerations, energy efficiency and sustainability, materials used and their performances at these limitations.