Dark Beacon

This pavilion aims to raise awareness of sea level rise. Designed and built with a team of international participants during MEDS 2019 in Spetses, a Greek island, it is located on the top of a small hill overlooking the old harbour, sharing its site with a lighthouse. While the lighthouse warns of immediate dangers, the pavilion warns of future ones.

The design is influenced by the maritime culture of Spetses. The external form resembles a simplified, straight-edged outline of a boat, vertically extruded. Internally, there are two pools of water — one on the ground floor and another on the first — connected by a ladder. The distance between these pools is almost the maximum estimated sea-level rise by the year 2100.

Charred wood is used for two reasons. Charring is a technique used in traditional boat building, and there is a connection between the burned appearance and the theme of global warming.

Upon entering, visitors step onto a ramp with an incline designed to cause a brief moment of balance adjustment — just like stepping from land onto a boat. Proceeding up, one discovers a pool of water containing large stepping stones, which acts as a baseline for the sea-level rise concept. A ladder invites people to the first floor, where a seat offers a stunning view of the Greek mainland and islands, with a pool at its base.

A panoramic view of the harbour and coast is available by climbing toward the roof — allowing visitors to see just how vulnerable places like Spetses are to the impacts of sea-level rise.