<![CDATA[The growing interest in astrotourism has positioned night sky as an important tourism resource. However, existing astrotourism facilities often focus primarily on observation infrastructure, while paying less attention to the spatial experiences that shape visitors' journeys before, during, and after observation. This design study explores an experiential astrotourism that engage with various degree of dark conditions and prepare visitors for night-sky observations. It questions how architecture can shape the spatial and sensory transition in visitors' night-sky observational experience through a design exploration of a Milky Way-themed astrotourism attraction in Pangalengan, Bandung. The study integrates discourse on dark-sky experience, experiential architecture, and multisensory perception as the basis for its design inquiry and proposes strategies, which are: (1) employing darkness as material, (2) proposing silence as space, and (3) bringing connection. These strategies are further developed into architectural operations involving controlled reduction of light, tactile and acoustic orientation, enabling spatial compression and release, creating framed views of the sky, providing environmental exposure and establishing gradual spatial ascent. The study contributes to experiential design of astrotourism beyond simply providing an observation point. It choreographs the transition from everyday environmental conditions to navigating darkness, sensory awareness, anticipation, and celestial observation. The resulting framework offers design considerations of night-sky experience as an architectural sequence rather than solely as an observational activity.]]>
Copyrights © 2026
