By Orla Ahern

07 October 2014

Unfortunately, Max Fordham's very own Hareth Pochee and the design team from Adam Khan Architects didn't come away with the silverware at the 2014 Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) Ideas Competition.

The bi-annual event hosted in Copenhagen aims to uncover ideas for public art that can generate utility-scale clean energy to the grid.

This years winner, ‘The Solar Hourglass' designed by Santiago Muros Cortés of Buenos Aires, uses a consistent arrangement of small flat mirrors that concentrate reflected solar energy through the neck of an hourglass. The concentrated sunlight allows a soaring temperature of 600 degrees Celsius, which converts water into steam and drives a turbine at the base of the sculpture. Effectively, this design has the potential to provide enough energy for thousands of homes.

Sustainable? Yes. But it’s not a duck.

Congratulations to Hareth and the team for making it to the final. You can read more about  the winning design here.