ABSTRACT
The atmosphere of places is changed by the diurnal rotation of shadows. The slow movement of shadows through time is part of architecture. Its stimulating variability is destroyed by the constancy of electric lighting. The instrument is already ‘architectural’ in that it identifies a place for telling time. It also has a ‘roof’ that creates a contained shadow which the sun’s beam penetrates. Sundials are works of architecture. They are instruments for telling the time. They also identify places for making sense of the progress of time, through the day and through the seasons of the year. A time lapse film from vertically above its courtyard would show shadows revolving clockwise around the circular space. They trace paths that vary with the seasons of the year too. All sunlit architectural space has this temporal dimension on which shadows tell time.
