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https://news.artnet.com/art-world/ho...ariano-2335103

Houston Will Soon Be Home to a High-Tech, Clean-Energy Public Artwork That Will Generate Electricity for Its Neighborhood

The sculpture, dubbed the Arch of Time, has been designed by German architect Riccardo Mariano.

Adam Schrader, July 12, 2023

A new public artwork called the Arco del Tiempo, or Arch of Time, will generate clean energy for Texans still rebuilding from the devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

City officials in Houston have accepted a proposal from German architect Riccardo Mariano for the massive, futuristic installation developed with the Land Art Generator, a nonprofit that seeks to advance renewable energy-focused public art.

Mariano said he expects the arch, when completed, to be covered in solar panels that will generate 400 megawatt-hours of electricity per year—about what 40 Texan homes consume.

The energy produced will first go to the Talento Bilingue de Houston, a bilingual English-Spanish theater in the East End near the Guadalupe Plaza Park where the public artwork will be placed.

“That institution, which is very important to Houston, will have no energy bill at all,” Robert Ferry, the co-director of Land Art Generator, told Artnet News. He added that any additional energy will first go to lights and other services in the park with anything remaining to the city of Houston. The team did not provide a timeline for the sculpture’s completion.

A rendering of the Arch of Time sculpture planned for Houston. Photo courtesy of Riccardo Mariano

A rendering of a concert underneath the Arch of Time. Photo courtesy of Riccardo Mariano.

A diagram shows how colored glass and shapes are used to tell time with the giant sundial. Photo courtesy of Riccardo Mariano