Designed for a highly visible spot just across the harbor from the iconic Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen, the Solar Hourglass takes an optimistic view about our energy future, so long as we pay attention and make smart use of what we have. The massive installation uses heliostat mirrors to reflect solar heat down the funnel of the top portion into the neck to store it as energy.
Designed by Buenos Aires-based designer Santiago Muros Cortes, the Solar Hourglass won the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative design competition. It will put innovative renewable energy technology on public display, while also functioning as a major landmark and work of art.
Cortes describes it as “an hourglass to remind us that as long as we take car of our environment, the energy will never run out.”
“The Hourglass represents one more step in our search for sustainable, feasible, and beautiful ways of producing clean, renewable and environmentally friendly energy. Along with the earth, the hourglass will keep turning, giving us with every turn, another beam of hope for a brighter and more sustainable future.”


