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Avery Associates Architects
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In this project, every village, town and city in the UK was encouraged to erect a beacon to mark
the millennium. Sponsored locally, the standard version would be 9.27m high, but they would be variable in size and material to suite local conditions.
Every beacon had one or more phone card operated interactive visual
display units which gave local environmental read-outs from the sensors
and global ecological data from land lines or satellites.
The VDU's could also display locally generated information services, to provide
an A-Z map of the area and its facilities, data on its natural history
and local community and conservation groups, and an electronic notice-board
for local issues and events.
Every beacon, in every village and in every town was to have been interlinked via
the internet to create a national overview and local
schools and colleges would have been involved by providing local information to be used as part of their curriculum.
In this way, the beacons put into practice the potential for technology
to link communities and develop a global perspective.
Each beacon is an equilateral triangle in plan at its base, tapering to a 15mm thick stainless steel capping strip at the top, curved to match the curvature of the earth.
If the standard beacon's height of 9.27m represents the distance from the core of the earth to the surface, this tiny 15mm sliver represents all of the inhabitable atmosphere, containing 85 percent if the total atmosphere mass and almost all the planet's water vapour.
Avery Associates Architects © 2009 |
