Monumental moon clock.
Author: Kinga Mielnik
Published in: office designer
On the slopes of Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the world's highest coastal mountain range, where the snow covered tops rise up to 5,775 metres above the level of the Caribbean Sea, indigenous inhabitants of South America - the Kogi Indians - live in isolation from the external world but in harmony with the rhythms of Nature. The descendants of the Tairona culture, who built Ciudad Perdida, a city now lost in the mountains, say about themselves: "Our philosophy is universal as it embraces the visible and the invisible; the great mysteries Nature holds within. Everything, including plants and rocks, forms thought, which moves the world like a single breath, a single exhalation”. The Kogis call this creative power Aluna.
On the other hemisphere, amongst the meadows of Salisbury Plain, an eternal aura of mystery envelops the austere beauty of masonry blocks that have been involved in centuries-long dialogue with the Sun and Moon. Only 80 miles away from here, north-east of Stonehenge, the life pulse of a multicultural community is set by one of the most cosmopolitan metropolies. A city now lost in digital time, opened the way for an unusual dream of universal philosophy, as it embraces the visible and the invisible; the big mysteries Nature holds within. London visionaries called their dream Aluna.
A monumental Moon Clock and a breathtaking public time-space in one, is a globally unique project based on Laura Williams's idea, where architecture unites with astronomy, integrating art and science. Larger than Stonehenge and designed by world-class engineers, this steel and glass superconstruction will be made up of three concentric rings. The latest tidal turbine technology will generate an animation of light on their surface - colourful in daylight and white at night - to illustrate time in the lunar cycle. The illumination of the central ring, half above ground and half below, maps the Moon's travel across the sky. The second ring lights up gradually over a cycle of 29.5 days, from the total darkness of New Moon to Full Moon, when the light circle closes. Constant observation of sea tides is made possible by the third ring: the light marker is high at high tide and descends with the ebb. The Proudman Oceanographic Laboratory provided the necessary data and the most accurate mathematical algorithms known to mankind and is building the master time phase, interface and drivers.
Aluna’s concept is universal in its form and principles and therefore can be situated anywhere on Earth but most likely man will take first steps into the space of the moonclock in the cradle of universal time, near the Greenwich meridian. When the Aluna team was joined by RIBA-awarded Edward Cullinan Architects, project efforts received a powerful backing in form of a complete proposal for the regeneration of East India Dock Basin, including turning the Moon Clock into reality on the ground by 2012.
The rising interest in a similar project in Australia means Aluna could become a dual hemisphere project fulfilling the creator's global vision.
The Earth's blue expanses sway our hearts from ebb to flow. Tied with the Cosmos, terrestrial architecture is a challenge for linear perception; it may reconnect the man with the Universal Order and one all-embracing breath of the long time cycle in the immense space.
Without moving, Aluna awakens the world and inspires imagination. This monumental symbol of New Time is a beacon for a sustainable future in harmony with natural rhythms. By moving perpetually, the Moon keeps the world in balance. Like a mirror, this universal Symbol of Eternal Time transmits light during darkness and unites hemispheres. Within the architecture of the Universe, Sun may often provide the structure - but from the Moon comes the all-integrative inspiration.
“The entity of which all things are born, in which everything is contained.
In Aluna there is the memory of the Past and the potential for the Future.
Aluna forms the bridge between the Universe and the human spirit.”
(Creation myth of the Kogi)
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