Rather than using sand to measure time, TheSolar Hourglass uses the power of the sun to electrify hundreds of homes while providing a breathtaking setting for inspiration and relaxation. The installation consists of an upper and a lower bulb. Dozens of people can gather on the bottom bulb during the day, sheltered by the shade of the top bulb. The project works as a solar central receiver, consisting of an arrangement of small flat mirrors that concentrate their reflection of solar energy on a tank holding a heating medium. Sun-tracking mirrors (heliostats) on top of the upper bulb reflect solar heat onto a cone-shaped set of smaller mirrors that concentrate these reflections and direct them down the neck of the installation. The higher heat capacity of the molten salt in the receiver inside the neck, allows for the system to store heat and produce energy during cloudy weather or even at night. At night the thin layer of OLED (organic light-emitting diode) that covers the installation lights up on the surface of both bulbs, transforming the hourglass into a pair of elegantly curved planes that shine on the edge of Refshaleøen, Denmark. The Solar Hourglass installation sends an optimistic message to those who visit: we still have time to make things right with the environment, and if we act now, it is not yet too late.
1st Place Winner of the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition for Copenhagen