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Arco del Tiempo
T
104 Texas Architect
1/2 2024
ARCO DEL TIEMPO, A LAND ART GENERATOR ARTWORK BY RICCARDO MARIANO ©2023
he city of Houston announced in July
its latest work of permanent art in
public space. Arco del Tiempo (Arch
of Time) — a regenerative and permanent sculptural installation — will
be installed in Houston’s Second Ward Complete
Community in 2024. Designed by Berlin-based
artist and architect Riccardo Mariano, the work
takes the form of a 100-foot-tall triumphal arch
and serves as a gateway to Houston’s East End/
Segundo Barrio neighborhood. 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 Guadalupe Plaza
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
speci昀椀c latitude and longitude of Houston.
Incorporating solar modules into the southfacing exterior of the sculpture, Arco del Tiempo
will generate approximately 400,000 kilowatt-hours
of electricity each year (equivalent to the demand
of 40 Texas homes) and o昀昀set more than 100 percent of the power demand of the nearby Talento
Bilingüe de Houston, a generational city-owned
Latino cultural hub for performing arts in the East
End. The project is the culmination of many years
of planning by the Land Art Generator Initiative
(LAGI), a nonpro昀椀t dedicated to advancing climate
solutions through art and design.
“Over its lifetime, the artwork will generate
more than 12 million kilowatt-hours of clean,
renewable energy — the equivalent of removing
8,500 metric tons of carbon dioxide,” says Elizabeth Monoian, founding co-director of the LAGI.
“All the energy that went into its making — from
the smelting of the steel to the drilling that puts the
昀椀nal cladding into place — will be o昀昀set through
the energy it generates.” Tracing the path of the
sun across the sky, Arco del Tiempo is both a
monumental sculpture and a shaded place to meet,
linger, experience, and perform. The new public
sculpture will soon become a new destination for
the city of Houston.
