REBECCA CUMMINS

Still.Moving, 2021

Bellevue Arts Museum Biennial 2021: Architecture and Urban Design

Foam core, video

In Still.Moving, a heliodon is enlisted to observe the movement of light and shadow in the Third Floor Gallery on a study model of Steven Holl Architects Bellevue Art Museum (2001) at the Summer Solstice, Equinoxes and Winter Solstice.

This heliodon is a mechanical device that uses a singular light source and a tilting “earth” table to simulate the sun. The heliodon table can be rotated so that “sunlight” may be observed on the model as it might occur at any time of year or time of day specific to the geographic site. Historically, architects utilized heliodons to study their models during the design phase to optimize solar and energy performance. Today, the function of the heliodon has largely been replaced by 3D modelling software.

How does the earth’s daily spin and seasonal tilt affect light and shadow occurrences specific to our point of view, the moment, building alignment and our geographical locale (47.61˚ latitude)? We are reminded that the Sun is not moving – we are.