italian job

Starting the design of a garden sundial for our anniversary that presents the hours until sunset. There are a variety of hour indicators that can be used on a sundial, for example, Babylonian and Italian.

An "Italian hours" sundial measures time based on a 24-hour day beginning at sunset and ending at the next sunset. The hours marked on these sundials represent the number of hours elapsed since the previous sunset. The length of each hour changes with the seasons because the time between sunset and sunrise is not constant. This system was used in many European countries, particularly in Italy, for religious and daily life from roughly 1200 to 1800.

​However, a gardener is generally of more interested in the hours remaining until sunset. This can be found simply by reversing the order of the hour numbers.

Structurally, the goal is to have a dial mounted on the side of her greenhouse that’s geodesic dome. Since the sides of the dome are neither exactly vertical nor horizontal certain serious geometric design challenges present themselves.