February 11–12: Utö – site + lighthouse
The temperature took a turn for the frigid.
The requisite morning shot shows the remaining skims of snow from the squall.
Not much heat to be gained from the sun today.
There were beautiful altocumulus textures all day on the 11th, though.
More altocumulus.
And yet more, around sunset.
Clearer skies to the south.
The next day was as cold as it looks, and there had been another light snowfall overnight.
On that day, we went to explore our project site (Kattrumpan), which is a military area, but we got permission to enter it.
The lookout tower on the western edge of the site.
A jetty, which would play an important part in my design. The project was the "Sanctuary of Silence," a sort of non-denominational monastic retreat.
An old brick-plaster building next to the road going through the site.
Looking back toward the village and the lighthouse.
Bunker.
A boathouse near the jetty.
And then, in the evening, we got quite a special tour of the interior of the lighthouse. Note the massiveness of the walls.
The stairs were steep and many.
Great timber structure for the floors.
Through this hatch you can see the grand hall in the level below; this level is a chapel.
We even got to see the lighthouse lens itself.
Here it is. Note that the lenses are arrayed in a rhombic shape (if you're looking at it from directly above), which means that the angles and thus the timing between the projected light beams alternate between short and long. I had noticed how the beams came by in quick pairs separated by longer intervals and, I think, had thus conjectured that the lenses had a rhombic arrangement, so it was rewarding to have my hypothesis confirmed!
Looking up into the inside of the light.
The light on the back wall.
The chapel.