I guess that everybody remembers the tragedy of Costa Concordia cruiseship that sank close to shores of Isola del Giglio on 13th january 2O12. To remind and honour all of 32 victims of this accident company Matterbetter organised an architectural competitiom for a lighthouse. The site chosen for this purpose was located near the place where the wrecked ship had floated ashore. The competitors were also challenged to revaluate current typology of lighthouse itself and show their vision of its future.
The typology of beacons has come a long way through last two thousand years. Verticality has been repeatedly confirmed as the best solution for distribution of light for long distances. Thus me and my fellow coleague decided to do at least a little experiment with positioning of light source. We put the bulb at the base of the lighthouse at the bottom of transparent light-tube and placed rotating mirror atop. While the lightbeam goes through the chimney it lights up the tower made of transparent concrete.
location: Isola del Giglio, Italy
competition: 2015
co-author: Norbert Dúbravský