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DETAIL OF THE SHADOW ALIGNMENT FEATURE   

SHADOW ALIGNMENT EVENT

DURING THE WINTER SOLSTICE

SHADOW ALIGNMENT EVENT 

DURING THE FALL 

OR SPRING EQUINOX

SHADOW ALIGNMENT EVENT

DURING THE SUMMER SOLSTICE

The Crossing (2003)

Commissioned by the Capital Development Board of the State of Illinois for the Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. 

Media: stainless steel, aluminum, concrete, bronze.

Overall size: 36 ft. high, 24 ft. in diameter

Weather vane: 19.5 ft. long 

The Crossing is a kinetic wind-powered sculpture composed of a stainless steel and aluminum weather vane sitting atop a stainless steel tower and dome. The dome rests on eight tapered cast-concrete columns. 

The North-South axis of the dome sits directly on the 90th meridian. This fact has inspired a shadow alignment feature that is built into the dome (the round disk pictured above) casting shadows and a beam of light onto the concrete floor below. Sheet bronze strips are attached to the concrete floor to help identify the position of the shadows and the light during the important celestial times of the year - the summer and winter solstice and the spring and fall equinox. 

The sculpture and the shadow alignment feature invite us to contemplate our position on earth in the space-time context while the weathervane provides a more temporal experience by reacting to the immediate influence of the wind. It ads a kinetic component to the static nature of the dome and the measured movements of the sun across the sky.