Solar Time Vs Man made Time

On a very recent trip to Italy, I happen to see this excellent pair of clocks on a church, one was a solar clock, the other a mechanical clock.

If you look carefully, you can see that the solar clock shows 12 pm, yet the mechanical clock shows 11 am, yet both are right. Let me explain, the solar clock is as the sun depicts, it can not be changed, well not on this stone solar clock, yet the mechanical clock can be altered, as we enter daylight saving.

I like this a lot, it show how time works and how man has altered time to suite his needs, it opens up a lot for both shadow work, surveying and a simple yet fundamental view of our Solar system, the tilt of the earth to the sun, and its effect on weather.

Such a simple photo yet so full of information.

I will use this next year as I teach first year students in both simple surveying and detailing.

It's been a funny old month

Work just seemed to take over in the last few weeks, it looked a little scares for a while, then suddenly I have a lot of paperwork and reading to do, a couple of small jobs came in and I decide that my love afar with Google gmail was coming to an end.

It started as all relationships, full on and lots to talk, but in recent months things have not being going well, I wanted more, so I looked back and decided to take another look at Apples Mail program. I wrote this up in an earlier blog, I had made some mistakes and now needed to sort these out once and for all,,,, it took a while, but I am glad to say I have got it sorted, and a big thank you to Apples Tech support, just excellent, and something Google just does not have.

Back to construction, and a few ideas for papers have piled up in my note book, so I need to look these over some will be downgraded to a blog, some I will keep and expand.

I took a look at Google Earth this week, mostly because I am updating my presentation notes on Architecture, and one of the points I an trying to make is the way shadow's across a building changes, so I have pulled in a screen show to show the way the leading edge of the sun rising at dawn is slightly angles, this angle changes over the months, but its slope shows clearly why France is an hour ahead of us for most of the year,the google map add ons and tools allow you to see this hence todays photo.

So back to the moleskin and a few more notes and sketch's

Time Lapse Video - So much to see

I am a massive fan of Time Lapse video, I think its an excellent way to teach construction, the number of site videos out there is well worth trawling. But this video is all about weather, and shadow, its effect on a building and how the building deals with it, although the last part is so up the the lecturer to explain, I take my students on a walk though the old Birmingham to show this.
But for the mean time, take a look at how the weather creeps in, and brightens up, plus the shadows.

Weather seasons and Shadow Length

I am reversing things today, normally I add my little bit on todays photo last, but todays photo is the main theme of todays notes. It was, whilst I was driving back from Tenbury Wells, or ir it just Tenbury, that I noticed that the hop fields are being planted and restrung, so what I here you ask, well its all part of the weather, and the natural cycle of things, and my natural love of all thing beer related.

I have mentioned the use of weather as part of detailing so many times, but driving along I just saw the fields and the long rows of poles with the long strings that the plants climb up, that in its self was so worth stopping for.

I have a moleskin full of things to mention, but I just liked the idea of the season changing, plants waking up, and a change in Temperature, although It's probably short lived and we will get freezing weather before the weekend, strange weather is afoot, but one thing thats not going to change is the length and angle of shadows I say not change but as we know each day brings a predictable alteration something we still fail to predict in the weather !, believe it or not I saw the poles first thing in the morning on the way out and the shadows were long and thin, but on the way back the shadows had moved and shortened. I thought of so many things in that instant, my lecture on the Earth spinning and moving about the sun, and lat and long, and the long shadows we now see on so many buildings.

Shadow is a fundamental part of Architecture, yet so often it a part of design thats short lived, we thing about it early on and thats it, but its something that will be with a building to the last seconds of its life, and will change as new buildings are added to neighboring plots, and the effect on its appearance and performance will change, so will the feel or what I call the sole of the building.

I want my students to take time at some point in the year to sit and watch shadows and their effect on a building, I doubt they will have time, but one can hope.

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A site view not to miss, watch and learn

This week, I shall take some of my students to the top of a carpark roof to view a construction site below, its the ideal way to watch a site in daily operation, see the way the site is laid out and where and why construction is started.

We take with us the gantt chart and look for items that should be completed and whats just started.
I wanted to add a time lapse video, but it just got messy, so the photo is all I can do, except it will be the same photo spot and on each Friday, so given enough photos I can make a nice time lape video.

There is so much to be learned by just sitting and watching, shadow, rain its worth the time to observe, and see how it interacts with your details.
I like to touch and feel, old details, even on the surface there is still things to learn, drip details, overhangs, change of material, and in an old city ike Birmingham, there are detail example that have been working well for over 100 years.

So often details are the result of committees, groups of well meaning people who look after buildings and add things without realising the effects, adding pipes, drainage, ramps, thinking the builder will sort it out, so often not,,,,,,,

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Night Time Shadows or Architecture by night

It's not till you walk through a city by night, do you get the chance to see all sides of a building, from the daylight shadows, and its general use by its occupants.

But its a night you see a completely different side to a building, the suns shadows replaced by artificial lighting that competes with the moon and plays tricks on shadows never intended by the Architect.

And it was as I walked back from the Hotel of the CIAT presidents ball, that I suddenly noticed this, the cold wind biting through a rather thin dress suite, I stood to look at a grand old building and admire the new silhouette that now presented its self to me, where hours before I saw something completely different.

We spend so long designing for daylight, but so often we ignore the dark and often n=missed opportunity to see a completely different side of Architecture, yet its one that during the winter months presents its self more.

For me its a new side to my CPD, looking at shadow, and reflecting on the Dark Shadow of the moon and artificial light.