Caro's Lighthouses

Genesis of the project

These years of work, 20 years of model making, the passion for ancient architecture (achieved through micro model making), the fascination of the sea led me to the desire to create a collection of lighthouses in France, erected more precisely far from the coasts, in the great west: from the lighthouse of Gatteville in the north of Cotentin, to the Cordouan lighthouse in the mouth of the Gironde (see map for location).

In order to put the lighthouse in an optimal marine situation, this collection is made on a very small scale: - 1 millimeter to represent 1 meter, smaller is the scale, the more surface area and distance can be represented.  The desire to create this collection is also the desire to preserve a visual memory of this marine architectural heritage, which is undeniably a part of the world's heritage. architectural heritage, which is undoubtedly disappearing.

The outcome of this project consists of exhibiting in a permanent museography site, corresponding to the theme of the different types of marking and lighting of the coasts of France and of the sea in general.

The tour will be based on the coastline on the ground, where each lighthouse will be presented in its exact geographical location. A didactic will accompany each lighthouse. Access to the exhibition will be by ticket.

Caroline PAQUETTE.

The Lighthouses

Architecture implementation

A very quick summary of the construction of these scale model of lighthouses, according to plans and documents kindly provided by the lighthouse and beacon subdivisions.

It all starts with a sheet of white expanded rigid PVC 2 millimeters thick to make the towers and very thin transparent sheets, also in PVC, for the majority of the details and for most  details and for the lanterns, as basic materials.

These materials are cut by hand with a surgical scalpel,in order to obtain an extremely fine and precise cut, then assembled with "cyanolite " glue (super glue) and sanded with a nail file, simply in order to obtain the final A lot of patience and dexterity, of course.

Implementation of the marine site

The rocks are sculpted using dentist's tools, in plaster previously cast in the steel support, then painted. The sea is represented by inclusion resin, poured on a sanded background, coloured and then worked, during the polymerization. All the colours are made from natural pigments

Professional references

After 5 years of studies, in the 70's, among the team of the architectural firm Daniel de Monfreid, architect DPLG in Paris, I created my own business of architectural models in Tulle in Corrèze in 1976 where I worked for 10 years, exclusively for developers and architects. Over the years, having surrounded myself with three collaborators, responding to calls for tender, the markets became more important.Professional references.