If you’re from the state of Oklahoma, then it’s likely that you very much dread the sight of a 300-foot-tall tornado coming across the skyline of your town. However, either for the sake of irony or for the LULZ, in the city of Tulsa there are plans proposed from Oklahoman architecture firm Kinslow, Keith, & Todd for the headquarters of the very first Oklahoma Weather Museum, also called the “Tulsa Tornado Tower.” That’s right, pretty soon the dread of an actual tornado might be taken for grated by many Tulsans.
Imagine the Tornado Tower as Tulsa’s version of Seattle’s Space Needle; there’s a revolving restaurant at the top of the twister that was mock-titled “Dorothy’s Bar and Grill”. There were even scrapped plans to add artificial cows and pick-up trucks to the outside of the building as a roadside attraction. Earlier this year, a local magazine called Tulsa People asked three Oklahoma firms for concept designs for the purpose of revitalizing downtown Tulsa. Kinslow, Keith, & Todd took the assigned a decrepit two-story parking garage, took an old concept design for “Dorothy’s Bar & Grill” and re-purposed it into this project, along with a weather museum, roof deck, and the aforementioned revolving restaurant.

Many Tulsans are becoming REALLY excited about the Tornado Tower proposal, and even Dr. Kerry Joels, a museum consultant who has worked with NASA and the Smithsonian, says the project is the perfect base for the Oklahoma Weather Museum he’s envisioned since 2012. Even local weathermen have approached the architects to ask if weather cameras and studios could be installed in the tower. The Tulsa Tornado Tower isn’t green-lit just yet, as the firm behind the building is figuring out all of the rotating sections of the tower before applying for construction permits. Regardless, this 30-story building would cost as much as $150 million, however there’s a lot of interest (as well as a lot of oil money) to make the Tulsa Tornado Tower a reality.
[Thanks Archinect]