architecture 112: horologion, piraeus clock tower

‘horologion’ by architecture 112 all images courtesy of architecture 112

athens-based firm architecture 112 (stavros martinos and aris ntalas) aims to reconfigure a tower’s facade in to an urban sundial with ‘horologion’, their design entry in to the piraeus tower competition. built on the site of a 19th century clock building, the current structure stands abandoned in greece’s third largest municipality. the new design will restitute the memory of the demolished landmark through its site-specific history, as well as transform the facade into a readable, identifiable element.

using the time piece as a point of departure, the design considers all factors of the site such as geographic latitude, the angle of the sun, orientation, amount of sunlight, shadow, and gradation of the day. the new tower is divided into four convex faceted volumes that assume the function of the dial during each of the year’s four seasons. on the north side, a reclining sundial projects the time at the top corner of the tower; facing the south, a vertical edge looks to the street level to make the time easily discernible.

each surface of the volume is formulated to be a triangular face so that an edge may act as a ‘gnomon’, or needle, on the reclining face below. during the course of the day, every face will be shaded differently, giving the tower an ever changing appearance and identity.

rendered perspective to maximize the natural sunlight and shadow effect, the exterior skin will be completely white

north sundial, in context the external staircase is shaped into a tall, pointed element to cast a shadow on the surrounding city. this horizontal sundial may be read on a network of explicitly marked urban elements, placed all around town.

detail

south sundial

section (1) lattice external shade (2) gnomon (lat. 37’9” – long. 23’6”) (3) reclining sundial surface (4) white corian bas-relief (5) sentry glass (6) structural grid – alesta coating