Elioforo, 2009
Project designed for the permanent installation at the Pompeii Antiquarium, part of the greater work of restoration and enhancement of the complex,
entrusted to the Spazi Consonanti group.
Four bronze heliostats project beams of sunlight inside the complex.
The beams don’t change position thanks to the offsetting movement of the reflective surfaces, and they are redistributed by a system of mirrors and diaphragms, revealing objects through the highlighting of their details.
In summary the principle on which the installation is based can be described as follows:
a self-propelled mirror, thanks to a special astronomical software that constantly varies its set-up according to the solar orbit over the days and seasons projects its reflection made static on a second mirror arranged at 45° . So the light penetrates vertically into the room below passing through a series of iris diaphragms that constitute a calibration of each beam, which meets at this point a mirror that perfects the pointing.
Another essential element of the system is the fact that each mirror can have different surface characteristics at its center with respect to its peripheral zone: while at the center the reflection is directional, as the beam of light meets more external areas of the mirror the reflection opens into a wider and diffused beam.
The Heliophore consists of a system of four heliostats placed two by two in the skylights of the rooms on the left and right of the atrium..
The main light beam is then divided and horizontally completes the first stretch inside the room, until reaching the pointing mirrors.
Light is subjected to a process that is distributed over time, guiding the gaze to details, measuring the intensity of the shadow and gradually revealing the relationship with the context.
The work of the Antiquarium of Pompeii, now well advanced, suddenly stopped at some point. The fact is that the prototype of the heliostat, entirely realized, is currently in operation for study purposes.
Placed on a special wooden tower sends constantly, at any time of the day, a sunbeam pointing to a window up to intercept a mirror to independent sectors that allow ample freedom of targeting
