UPDATE: As of April 2025, this project will now move to Mason Park. Details HERE.
Plans are underway for what may be the world’s largest sundial to be constructed in Houston. Coming to the city’s Segundo Barrio, “Arco del Tiempo (Arch of Time)” will be the first public artwork of its kind worldwide and is a symbol about what renewable energy can do through art. The project is the culmination of years of planning by the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), a nonprofit dedicated to advancing climate solutions through art and design.
Designed to be a carbon net-positive public artwork that generates clean energy, “Arco del Tiempo (Arch of Time)” is intended to inspire visitors, and provide a community venue in the East End’s Guadalupe Plaza Park for performances, events, learning, discovery, and play.
The LAGI artwork by Berlin-based artist and architect Riccardo Mariano takes the form of a 100-foot-tall triumphal arch and will serve as a gateway to the city. It is also an interactive time-measuring device that creates a thread between the celestial and the terrestrial by beaming sunlight onto the ground plane of the public park. Each beam of light is uniquely composed throughout the seasons and hours of the day by the geometry of the artwork, which responds to the specific latitude and longitude of Houston.
Incorporating solar modules into the south-facing exterior of the sculpture, “Arco del Tiempo (Arch of Time)” will generate approximately 400,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity each year, equivalent to the demand of forty Texas homes. It will also offset more than 100% of the power demand of MECA’s nearby Talento Bilingüe de Houston (TBH), a generational City-owned Latino cultural hub for performing arts in the East End (333 S. Jensen Dr., Houston 77003).
Last summer, Mariano, creator of “Arco del Tiempo” (Arch of Time)” spoke in Houston at TBH with the LAGI founders to discuss the proposed public artwork.
Key takeaways included:
- Civic Landmark: The sun-powered arch could be a recognized gateway to communities along the Buffalo Bayou East expansion.
- Expected Timeline: During a period of two years, from start to finish, the goal is to break ground in late 2023, start construction in 2024, and open to the public in 2025.
- Sustainable Microclimate: Revamp and reactive the nonfunctioning splash park nearby to create a much-needed cooler environment to complement the shade from “Arco del Tiempo (Arch of Time);” the latter of which generates its own energy.
- Proposed Size: Subject to change after completion of the design process, construction structural assessment and more, the projected dimensions of “Arco del Tiempo (Arch of Time)” are 150 feet wide x 100 feet high x 100 feet deep.
- Historical Panels: The existing interpretive signage describing the history of the Segundo Barrio communities are expected to remain.
- STEAM Education Venue: Year round, students could visit with their teachers to learn about the sun, seasons, and more in this unique outdoor classroom.
Tracing the path of the sun across the sky, “Arco del Tiempo (Arch of Time)” is both a monumental sculpture and a shaded place to meet, linger, experience, and perform. The new public sculpture will welcome locals and visitors and will soon become a new destination for the city of Houston.
The LAGI project is made possible in Houston by a variety of donors with initial seed funding from the Acronym Fund, a foundation dedicated to advancing arts and culture established by Donald and Barbara Tober. A press release from Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs can be found at https://www.houstontx.gov/culturalaffairs/. Learn more about the LAGI by clicking here.
