Turns out that this building was the only building in the surrounding area which actually had light. Of course it was the sickly yellow light of sodium lamps rather than clean, clear daylight or its equivalent. When I finally made it to my room I crawled onto my bed and peered out the window towards the mountains. There was no moon in the sky but everything was lit like a full moon was looming overhead. Everything was dark but I was able to see everything, outlines of buildings which appeared to be painted a flat black, the snowless mountains that stood out against the even darker sky.
All this reminded me of the land of the dead and the dream where I saw a city made up entirely of demolished buildings across a stygian shore.