So i'm working on this parking garage which is situated in an urban site, somewhat sacred, i guess you could say, as it is on Main Street in a mid-size city. It sits adjacent to what city officials hope will become an active urban space, and also adjacent to some historic buildings. As it is hoped this space around the garage will someday become active, the city wants to incorporate some sort of civic element into the parking garage...namely, a clock, on one of the stair towers, which have become vertically oriented anchors at the corners of the garage.
Personally i have no problem with the clock as it will bring some sort of added function to the unfortunate placement of a parking garage in the middle of an allegedly future active space. However, we don't want your typical big ben fancy clock....i was wondering if any of the archinectors know of any decent clocks on buildings....any suggestions?
its the clock in the MTCC at IIT. OMA project but the clock was done along with the rest of the graphics by 2x4.
its a fantastic clock actually because its so counter intuitively large it completely blends in with the rest of the building and many never even notice its there, and then are amazed when they finally realize "hey, that wall is a clock" i could imagine something like this vertically oriented in an urban setting could really become iconic.
lletdownl is correct (on this rare and momentous occassion, ha!)... and although the clock is cool, the photographer should have probably have relocated the ping pong table!
cmon archinect peeps? where are all the clocks you know and love?
postal is incorrect (as is normally the case with foolish fools)... the photographer intended to leave the ping pong table in the foreground as a literary mechanism...
for literature...
i had a feeling that was at iit due to the orange and the translucency, but wasnt quite sure. the saarinen tower poses a good possibility, the image titled "blecch" unfortunately is somewhat analogous to the form of what is taking place in the garage i am working on...however, i would say ours is headed in a much more pleasing direction. basically its the stair enclosed in glass....clock on top
WonderK - your first picture is the pizza express in Stockbridge, Edinburgh - where I'll be eating in about 20 minutes! Wierd.
This is a great topic, though - I personally think all buildings should have a clock on them. Ever since I lived in delft I keep looking up to tell the time, always dissapointed.
Postal - there is a great pong clock here. It's available as a free screensaver too. You're right, too - it'd look great on a facade.
Chch, I didn't know you were in Scotland! Yes, that's Pizza Express, I've eaten there too. I'm a bit of an anglophile, and I've been to Edinburgh no less than 3 times. Perhaps I should go to a beach one of these days.
I'm going to keep looking for more clocks. This is a fun little scavenger hunt for today....
Also, my favoutite clock in a building (though it's not quite what you asked for) is Zumthor's Thermal Baths/Vals. The litttle brass tubes that stand up with a watch-sized clock at the top. Just lovely. And all because he refused to have wall-mounted clocks apparently.
Not sure it's very useful to you though, sorry. Metal poles sticking out of car park walls at eye level. There must be a hole in that plan somewhere...
Yeah, I've been here 5 years. Just about to move to london for diploma though, so once I move no more posting Scotland pictures or you'll get me all home-sick!
I'd like to find out how the digital clock in postal's image is controlled. I'd like to make a similar smaller scale piece. All the digital clock controllers I've ever seen are for LED displays but I'm not sure how one would make them control line voltage fixtures.
steven - was that competition project based around a huge curved concrete slab with pixellated concrete sections? Or are we thinking of different things?
i don't remember it as a competition. transmaterial is usually about a new product available or in development. i'll have to search the site to see what i find.
bryan4arch, do you know how to use a microcontroller (perhaps overkill)? or a 555 timer? check out links from makezine or other sites for tuturials on clocks etc...
postal - thanks for the suggestions, but those wiring diagrams are over my head, especially since those clock designs are intended for output to a 5 volt LED display and for this kind of thing the output would need to be to 28 120v fluorescent lights.
well, bryan, here's the one way i know how it could be done... (this may not be the easiest or most sensible way, and probably not the cheapest)
i would have a microcontroller connected to a bunch of digital outputs (28, right? maybe two more for the colon?)... i would also have two digital inputs connected to buttons, one to advance the hour, one to advance the minute...
of course, you then would need to amplify the outputs through a bunch of relays. (basically a switch that can be flipped by your digital output from the microcontroller) the relay would turn on one of the lights... (you will be dealing with 5v or less outs from your microcontroller)
then you just write a program to keep time and download it to the microcontroller... viola, right?
actually, i would probably try and hack a cheap clock first, to find out how it's controlled... perhaps that will give you some insight
that's the best this architect can do, i'm sure there are better ways, perhaps another forum would have a better answer?
french posted an image of the clock art piece at union square in new york city. i don't recall the name of it but i remember thinking that it was pretty damn pretensious. instead of just posting a clock, the developer got an artist to create this whole "meditation on time" thing that includes a chunk of rock (geologic time?), a blow hole that releases steam, a giant swing pendulum, and a digital clock that counts both forward and backward.
ok, i just found a link by doing a google search...it's called metronome
there is this clock on the ceiling of Penn Station NYC - I cant remember who is the designer...but its more like a sun dail...and very hard to read mind you. But it is very cool looking
-Ive always thought that the traditional clock w/ hr, min, sec hands are kinda lame...im a big art advocate. Sun dails rock!!!
Clocks on buildings
So i'm working on this parking garage which is situated in an urban site, somewhat sacred, i guess you could say, as it is on Main Street in a mid-size city. It sits adjacent to what city officials hope will become an active urban space, and also adjacent to some historic buildings. As it is hoped this space around the garage will someday become active, the city wants to incorporate some sort of civic element into the parking garage...namely, a clock, on one of the stair towers, which have become vertically oriented anchors at the corners of the garage.
Personally i have no problem with the clock as it will bring some sort of added function to the unfortunate placement of a parking garage in the middle of an allegedly future active space. However, we don't want your typical big ben fancy clock....i was wondering if any of the archinectors know of any decent clocks on buildings....any suggestions?
whoops...
postal....thats a great image....you have any idea where it comes from? looks more like an art piece, but still....
its the clock in the MTCC at IIT. OMA project but the clock was done along with the rest of the graphics by 2x4.
its a fantastic clock actually because its so counter intuitively large it completely blends in with the rest of the building and many never even notice its there, and then are amazed when they finally realize "hey, that wall is a clock" i could imagine something like this vertically oriented in an urban setting could really become iconic.
haven't seen that in person but had run across it on 2x4's (amazing) website.
lletdownl is correct (on this rare and momentous occassion, ha!)... and although the clock is cool, the photographer should have probably have relocated the ping pong table!
cmon archinect peeps? where are all the clocks you know and love?
postal is incorrect (as is normally the case with foolish fools)... the photographer intended to leave the ping pong table in the foreground as a literary mechanism...
for literature...
or a book....
what time is it?
it's ping pong time!!!
i think, in lieu of a giant digital clock (ala 2x4)... you go with a giant facade of....
PONG!
an all-time favorite - saarinen's first christian, columbus in:
an ok tower at the university of louisville student center:
blecch:
(also louisville)
There's quite a few good clock towers in the UK.
And well, of course, the mother of them all.
i had a feeling that was at iit due to the orange and the translucency, but wasnt quite sure. the saarinen tower poses a good possibility, the image titled "blecch" unfortunately is somewhat analogous to the form of what is taking place in the garage i am working on...however, i would say ours is headed in a much more pleasing direction. basically its the stair enclosed in glass....clock on top
WonderK - your first picture is the pizza express in Stockbridge, Edinburgh - where I'll be eating in about 20 minutes! Wierd.
This is a great topic, though - I personally think all buildings should have a clock on them. Ever since I lived in delft I keep looking up to tell the time, always dissapointed.
Postal - there is a great pong clock here. It's available as a free screensaver too. You're right, too - it'd look great on a facade.
Chch, I didn't know you were in Scotland! Yes, that's Pizza Express, I've eaten there too. I'm a bit of an anglophile, and I've been to Edinburgh no less than 3 times. Perhaps I should go to a beach one of these days.
I'm going to keep looking for more clocks. This is a fun little scavenger hunt for today....
Also, my favoutite clock in a building (though it's not quite what you asked for) is Zumthor's Thermal Baths/Vals. The litttle brass tubes that stand up with a watch-sized clock at the top. Just lovely. And all because he refused to have wall-mounted clocks apparently.
Not sure it's very useful to you though, sorry. Metal poles sticking out of car park walls at eye level. There must be a hole in that plan somewhere...
Yeah, I've been here 5 years. Just about to move to london for diploma though, so once I move no more posting Scotland pictures or you'll get me all home-sick!
Anyway - must dash. Pizza calls. :D
I'm partial to the Aluna clock, I wonder if it could be perched on the roof?
I didn't realize it was this hard to find good examples. Saarinen's First Christian church is spectacular!
Do you have images of the parking structure/ location?
I'd like to find out how the digital clock in postal's image is controlled. I'd like to make a similar smaller scale piece. All the digital clock controllers I've ever seen are for LED displays but I'm not sure how one would make them control line voltage fixtures.
transmaterial had a clock in concrete a while back: certain areas of the concrete surface would be charged and would light up.
steven - was that competition project based around a huge curved concrete slab with pixellated concrete sections? Or are we thinking of different things?
i don't remember it as a competition. transmaterial is usually about a new product available or in development. i'll have to search the site to see what i find.
bryan4arch, do you know how to use a microcontroller (perhaps overkill)? or a 555 timer? check out links from makezine or other sites for tuturials on clocks etc...
just did a little search, cause i was looking for a DIY watch that i saw a while ago... and look at what i found...
http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/09/homemade_pong_watch.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890
postal - thanks for the suggestions, but those wiring diagrams are over my head, especially since those clock designs are intended for output to a 5 volt LED display and for this kind of thing the output would need to be to 28 120v fluorescent lights.
found it!
description: http://transstudio.com/tm/2006/02/chronos-chromos-concrete.htm
well, bryan, here's the one way i know how it could be done... (this may not be the easiest or most sensible way, and probably not the cheapest)
i would have a microcontroller connected to a bunch of digital outputs (28, right? maybe two more for the colon?)... i would also have two digital inputs connected to buttons, one to advance the hour, one to advance the minute...
of course, you then would need to amplify the outputs through a bunch of relays. (basically a switch that can be flipped by your digital output from the microcontroller) the relay would turn on one of the lights... (you will be dealing with 5v or less outs from your microcontroller)
then you just write a program to keep time and download it to the microcontroller... viola, right?
actually, i would probably try and hack a cheap clock first, to find out how it's controlled... perhaps that will give you some insight
that's the best this architect can do, i'm sure there are better ways, perhaps another forum would have a better answer?
great topic, horology + architecture can only be fun.
im curious french - what was the image you posted?
sundials on buildings OK?
at this day of age, if u put clocks in your building... is like carrying a walkman on the street.
clocks can be VeRyDaNgErOuS
french posted an image of the clock art piece at union square in new york city. i don't recall the name of it but i remember thinking that it was pretty damn pretensious. instead of just posting a clock, the developer got an artist to create this whole "meditation on time" thing that includes a chunk of rock (geologic time?), a blow hole that releases steam, a giant swing pendulum, and a digital clock that counts both forward and backward.
ok, i just found a link by doing a google search...it's called metronome
there is this clock on the ceiling of Penn Station NYC - I cant remember who is the designer...but its more like a sun dail...and very hard to read mind you. But it is very cool looking
-Ive always thought that the traditional clock w/ hr, min, sec hands are kinda lame...im a big art advocate. Sun dails rock!!!
sundial: Codrington Library, All Souls College, Oxford
i love this one
nice concrete work. where is that? it wouldn't be so bad if it stuck out another inch or 2, you could at least estimate the time
unless this space is only open between the hours of 6 and 12...
ah ha, the trick is you have to look at the other side if it is between 12 - 6. ok, not the most convienent - but still very cool
happen to have a reference for it p2an? im very interested in this sort of thing
ulterior, i found it on ubiquity_zh
flickr stream
he has alot of good architecture fotos.
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