Lizard Peninsula, Cornwall, UK
‘In the midst of the dreary waste of Goonhilly, which occupies a large portion of the Lizard promontory, is a large piece of water known as “Croft Pasco Pool,” where it is said at night the form of a ghostly vessel may be seen floating with lug-sails spread. A more dreary, weird spot could hardly be selected for a witches’ meeting; and the Lizard folks were always–a fact–careful to be back before dark, preferring to suffer inconvenience, to risking a sight of the ghostly lugger. Unbelieving people attributed the origin of the tradition to a white horse seen in a dim twilight standing in the shallow water; but this was indignantly rejected by the mass of the residents.’
- ‘Popular Romances of the West of England: the drolls, traditions and superstitions of old Cornwall’ first published in 1865 by Robert Hunt.
Creation of a weather observatory for Goonhilly downs in conjunction with Gonhilly Village Green Festival in Cornwall. It will collect and observe weather data using a variety of instruments:
Wind speed and direction - anemometer
Rain – rain gauge
Relative air pressure – barometer
Relative humidity – hygrometer
UV and irradiance – pyranometer
The collected data is sent via the cloud to a central Met Office database and is inputted into their Unified weather Model (MetUM) and helps to create a more accurate and reliable computer model of weather systems to aid future prediction of weather. There are independent weather stations all over the country that input data like this as one unified, crowd-sourced, social network. This makes good reference to the history of the satellite dish and telecommunication on the site. They are decaying monuments and a legacy to rapidly changing technology and use.
The structure to house two people to man and operate the equipment for a few weeks voluntary residence at a time as part of the Goonhilly Village Green project. Moreover, it needs to be accessible and should provide an educational focus for the next event that is hosted. Some sort of visual and tactile way of measuring each form of weather should be incorporated as an educational tool for school children. This is an integral part of the structure.
Materiality is a large part of this and reference needs to make of this in the design. From the rusting metallic post-futuristic optimist metal giants, to the granite bronze-age monoliths, to the stained concrete apocalyptic WWII bunkers, to the colours and texture of the moorland plants that connect them all, it should be ‘of it’s place’.
-It should make little impact on the ground and have unobstructed views of the downs. Also taking into account the placement of the measuring equipment.
- It should have a place to view the predicted weather from.
- It should be powered by solar and wind technology for minimal land impact
