Energy & Environment
The planned “Arch of Time” sculpture in the East End is designed to generate approximately 400,000 kilowatts of power per year. According to organizers, the project will cost approximately $20 million and will be paid for entirely by donations.
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Courtesy of Land Art Generator Initiative
A sculpture that will function as a work of art, a public pavilion, a sundial and a solar energy generator is expected to start taking shape at Houston's Mason Park over the next several years.
Speaking Tuesday at Houston City Hall, local and state leaders announced their plans to build the "Arch of Time" sculpture, a first-of-its-kind art installation designed to generate approximately 400,000 kilowatts of power per year. According to organizers, the project will cost approximately $20 million and will be paid for entirely by donations, without any taxpayer dollars.
Houston City Council member Joaquin Martinez, who represents the East End area that includes Mason Park, said the Arch of Time will not only be functional but will also save the city money in the long run.
"The economic benefits are clear. The city will no longer need to pay for electricity at Mason Park," Martinez said. "The Arch of Time is more than just a structure, it’s a unique addition to the park that connects [the] community. Its function as a sundial, a stage and a gathering space for [the] community where families can picnic, neighbors can come together and people of all ages come [to] play, learn and reflect."
The project is being led by the Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI), an organization founded to promote the transition to a post-carbon world via renewable energy installations. According to LAGI co-founder Robert Ferry, the concept for the Arch of Time was first proposed in 2019 during a design competition hosted with renewable energy company Masdar and the World Energy Council.
Artist and architect Riccardo Mariano designed the arch and tweaked it specifically for Houston, Ferry said.
"Riccardo has designed it for the unique sun path for the city of Houston, so it's kind of like a fingerprint of the city, it would look different everywhere around the world and so it's very unique for Houston," Ferry said. "It is going to generate 400,000 kilowatt hours a year. ... We noted that I think the park consumed around 375,000 [kilowatt hours a year], so we're right there, we're going to be able to make this a net-zero park."
Provided/ Land Art Generator Initiative
Ferry acknowledged that carbon monoxide would be produced in order to construct the arch. But because of the arch's solar panels, it is expected to offset that carbon production in less than a decade.
"What we're really excited about is that this will be the first work of art at this scale that you could call ‘regenerative art,’ " he said. "So, we estimate that by around year six or seven of its life ... it will have, through the clean energy that it generates, pay off that entire upfront carbon debt."
Roland Garcia, vice chair of the Arch of Time Steering Committee, said more than 40 locations throughout the city were surveyed as potential sites for the project, with Mason Park proving the most suitable.
"Number one, you need plenty of continuous space, several acres, and you need to have it not shaded," he said. "It needs to be in an area where you could have adequate parking and get permitting and public restrooms and it needs to fit within the master plan of the area. ... Of the optimal locations, East End was a beautiful location with a wonderful master plan that this fits in so nicely."
U.S. Rep. Sylvia Garcia also was present at Tuesday's announcement and said the arch project represents what can be accomplished when philanthropy and government work together to serve the community.
"The East End has always been a place of firsts and now it will be home to something that will inspire the world," she said. "The Arch of Time is a statement that sustainability belongs to every neighborhood, that art belongs to everyone, that the East End will be leading the way."
Ferry said the plan is to hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the project within the next two years.
