The 42-metre-high timber lighthouse will feature seven halls and stand roughly 145 metres above the North Sea
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Norfolk’s highest point may soon host a lighthouse built entirely of timber, a major new cultural project has revealed.
The proposal was designed by builder and designer Alex Skarshelg, who has spent more than ten years building houses of solid timber by hand in the Norwegian log-building tradition.
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Skarshelg founded his workshop NORLAFT in 2012, completing more than forty timber projects in that time.
The latest work, known as The Sapiens Garden, is proposed for Beacon Hill above West Runton, the highest point in Norfolk. Beacon Hill stands at 103 metres, meaning the lighthouse would be situated 145 metres above the North Sea – among the highest points in East Anglia.
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‘I have always been inspired by structures that reach for the sky,’ said Skarshelg. ‘My grandfather was an architect and worked on some of the tallest structures of his day, and my father worked as a structural engineer.
Within the lighthouse, Skarshelg has proposed seven halls situated around a spiral staircase. Outside the tower, a Memory Garden of 77 trees will be planted, each tree bearing the name of a philosopher, poet, scientist or composer whose ideas and work have shaped human culture and thought.
‘Everything you see I created on my own, without a team, connections or support,’ Skarshelg said.
As a first step toward the Norfolk lighthouse, Skarshelg has proposed a prototype known as the Greenwich Weather Beacon: a 14-metre oak tower clad in larch in Greenwich Park.
‘I am a practitioner and a carpenter, and I wanted to get to work as soon as I could,’ said Skarshelg.
The Greenwich beacon will feature a revolving lantern and an evening light that can change colours with the city’s weather.
Skarshelg is now in conversation with British architects, engineers and craftspeople so that design work can begin in 2027.
