As temperatures this week in Houston, Texas exceed 100 degrees, the announcement of new shading structure in Guadalupe Plaza Park is a welcomed addition. Arco del Tiempo, a multifaceted public art installation from Riccardo Mariano and the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) is coming to the Texas city as a means for escaping the harsh heat of the Houston sun, however, the piece also doubles as a “time keeping device,” performance stage, and renewable energy source.
21,500 square feet of photovoltaic modules will be installed on its surface to offset the electricity consumption of the area. According to the design team, this makes it the world’s first net-positive public artwork. Each year, the piece will produce enough energy to power 40 average-sized U.S. homes. Over the lifespan of the structure, the system will generate 12 million kilowatt-hours of clean, renewable energy, which will be sent to the Talento Bilingue de Houston, a nearby bilingual performing arts center.
Measuring 100 feet tall and 164 feet wide, Arco del Tiempo is slated to be world’s largest freestanding sundial. Its weatherproof shell will be built with several layered components including a steel frame structure at its core and a span of metal decking that acts as a substrate for the photovoltaic panels, while also providing additional means of shading.
The underside of the piece will be outfitted with louvers that give the design a defining textural element, while also controlling the sunlight pouring into the interior from the “apertures”—the tinted glass holes puncturing the outermost layer of the piece. Visitors can tell the time of day by looking at the symbol cast by the filtered sunlight, which have a likeness to clock faces with a full circle indicating solar noon. Additionally, each of the glazed openings is tinted to coincide with the time of day, with pink designated morning hours and shades of blue reserved for the evening. (More on how the structure works as a time-telling device can be found here.)
Mariano originally submitted the project to a 2019 LAGI design competition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. The work was chosen for Guadalupe Plaza Park by the city from a shortlist of concepts. Mariano has previously worked with Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG) in Copenhagen, and currently works with Olafur Eliasson in Berlin.
Arco del Tiempo is one of many in-progress projects drawing attention to this previously underutilized section of Houston. An expansion to the 160-acre Buffalo Bayou Park, is underway and there are plans to install pedestrian bridges, boat launches, renew industrial building sites, and build mixed-income housing developments.
