Project Description
The iconic new Port Canaveral Exploration Tower—highly visible from the Port’s cruise ship terminal and nearby major transportation routes—was planned as a destination with its own drawing power. Simultaneously, it is the anchor project of an extensive redevelopment planned to revitalize Canaveral Cove’s harborside market area and capitalize on its location at the crossroads of many tourist activities.
The Tower expresses the common characteristics—transience, function and imagery—of the region’s many stories that it tells: cruising, the space coast, the military, nature, and beaches. The building’s dynamic form and features—sun louvers, exposed structure and iridescent skin—contribute to a constant sense of movement as the sun plays across the structure, meet functional needs, and evoke imagery of the busy port and surrounding county. A rocket ready to launch, a surfboard in the sand, a ship’s hull, a rocket contrail, all can be seen in the structure’s striking presence.
Inside, visitors get spectacular bird’s eye views of Port Canaveral and the surrounding area from two observation decks and discover more about this unique part of Florida from seven floors of exhibits and interactive play.