Sun Path, Rajab to Shawwal 1444
SUN PATH, RAJAB TO SHAWWAL 1444
Civil Architecture
PRINCIPAL
Ali Ismail Karimi, Hamed Bukhamseen
PROJECT ARCHITECT
Fatima Nickahdar
INTERN ARCHITECT
Alzaen Bindayna, Fatima Fathalla
CURATOR
Sumayya Vally
PROGRAM / USE / BUILDING FUNCTION
Installation
LOCATION
Yidda, Saudi Arabia
CATEGORY
Installations & Structures
The installation was commissioned by Diriyah Biennale Foundation for the Islamic Arts Biennale 2023.
Traditionally, mosque courtyards featured a sundial that indicated the time of the five daily prayers, and mosques served as spaces where the general public could align their sense of time with the movement of the heavenly bodies.
Inspired by the architecture of the Hajj Terminal, Hamed Bukhamseen (b. 1991, Kuwait City, Kuwait) and Ali Ismail Karimi (b. 1989, Manama, Bahrain), the founders of Civil Architecture, have reimagined the sundial.
The round opening (oculus) in each unit of the terminal’s canopy, which limits the amount of direct sunlight passing into the space below, acts as an inverted sundial.
The installation in turn tracks the movement of a beam of sunlight rather than a cast shadow.
This sunbeam passes over lines on the ground corresponding to the hours, months, and seasons, as well as sculptural objects that indicate significant moments in Islamic history and refer to the Biennale’s public program.
Our sense of the sun’s movement and the color of the sky provide a general indication of the hour, in contrast to the abstract notion of time created by digital clocks.
