Sun Path, Rajab to Shawwal 1444 by Civil Architecture | Monuments/sculptures/viewing platforms

Photographer: Laurian Ghinitoiu, Ali Ismail Karimi

The installation was commissioned by Diriyah Biennale Foundation for the Islamic Arts Biennale 2023. Traditionally, mosque courtyards featured a sundial that indicated the time of the five daily prayers, and mosques served as spaces where the general public could align their sense of time with the movement of the heavenly bodies.

Inspired by the architecture of the Hajj Terminal, Hamed Bukhamseen (b. 1991, Kuwait City, Kuwait) and Ali Ismail Karimi (b. 1989, Manama, Bahrain), the founders of Civil Architecture, have reimagined the sundial. The round opening (oculus) in each unit of the terminal’s canopy, which limits the amount of direct sunlight passing into the space below, acts as an inverted sundial.

The installation in turn tracks the movement of a beam of sunlight rather than a cast shadow. This sunbeam passes over lines on the ground corresponding to the hours, months, and seasons, as well as sculptural objects that indicate significant moments in Islamic history and refer to the Biennale’s public program. Our sense of the sun’s movement and the color of the sky provide a general indication of the hour, in contrast to the abstract notion of time created by digital clocks.

Design team:

Construction: Black Engineering
Principal: Ali Ismail Karimi, Hamed Bukhamseen
Project Architect: Fatima Nickahdar
Architect: Mohammed Al Khenaizi
Intern Architect: Alzaen Bindayna, Fatima Fathalla
Curator: Sumayya Vally

Photographer: Laurian Ghinitoiu, Ali Ismail Karimi