Prayer Tower, Religious tower at Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, United States.
Prayer Tower is a 200-foot glass-and-steel tower on the Oral Roberts University campus in Tulsa, designed by Frank Wallace and opened in 1967. Its shaft of gold and dark glass panels rises to a circular observation deck ringed by white PVC latticework tipped with red, white, and blue pennants, above which a slender spire ends in an eternal flame.
Architect Frank Wallace designed this structure in 1967, incorporating Space Needle-inspired elements into the religious building. It became an instantly recognizable landmark on campus, reflecting the architectural innovations of that era.
The tower sits at the centre of the ORU campus to signal prayer's central place in university life. Its disc-and-spindle profile reads as a cross from any horizontal direction and as a Star of David from the air, while the lattice ring around the observation deck, partly built from standard white PVC pipe, stands for the crown of thorns, with red marking the blood of Christ.
The enclosed observation deck gives a 360° view of the campus and the surrounding area, allowing a self-guided visual tour of the university. The landscaped Ralph L. Reece Memorial Gardens surround the tower base. The tower stands at the center of the Oral Roberts University campus in Tulsa.
White PVC pipes form a structural lattice around the observation deck, with red accents representing the university's religious symbolism. This material choice makes the tower both an engineering statement and a spiritual symbol.
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