I also agree with Sara Schechner's comment that analemmatic dials often lack a sculptural presence. They do need features to draw the eye in. A proposal I have made to a local parks committee combines an analemmatic dial with a medicine wheel. Medicine wheels are the North American equivalent to the stone circles of Western Europe, archeological artifacts left by aboriginal cultures thousands of years ago. The best known is the Bighorn Medicine Wheel in Wyoming. I have detailed survey drawings of over twenty wheels on the plains of Southern Alberta. The spokes of these wheels are often aligned with celestial events such as sunrise and sunset on the solstice or the heliacal rising of specific stars.
My proposal for this park on the eastern edge of Calgary is an analemmatic dial, laid out with stone markers, in the center of a larger elliptical retaining wall forming a council circle or conversation pit. Spokes of stones laid in rows would radiate out from this central ellipse to form a typical medicine wheel. These spokes would mark the cardinal axes N/S and E/W and the direction of the solstice sunrises. There is a clear eastern horizon across a small lake to the great western plains. The setting is ideal for solstice sunrise ceremonies and would serve as a good link, a common bond, between European and aboriginal cultures. The proposal is on the table and has been well received but the usual questions arise: how does it fit with the overall development plan? is it vandal proof? will joggers and dog walkers trip on the stones? how much will it cost? ... etc. This may limit the implementation. I will keep you posted. Roger Bailey Walking Shadow Designs N 51 W 115 At 09:56 AM 8/11/00 MET, Frans W. MAES wrote: >Picking up the thread on the analemmatic dial discussion a while >back, I think Sara Schechner was quite right in noting: > >"What these dials lack (often) is a sculptural presence. They are >defined by a flat environment, which while attractive and inviting up >close, is typically unrecognizable or invisible from a distance. In >this regard, people are not drawn up to them. They work best >when the spatial environment has some vertical feature to draw the >eye in." > >
