Post by olhillbilly on May 6, 2008 0:31:58 GMT -6
My first entry to the road trippin board. And a spactacular one I mite say.
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A complete redesign and rebuilding of Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park at 12th and Walnut in downtown Kansas City, Missouri was dedicated on April 18, 2008. The park concept is named Celestial Flyways to celebrate the natural environment of the Kansas City area.
The park was designed by Kansas City artist Laura DeAngelis and Davison Architecture + Urban Design and was commissioned by the Art in the Loop Foundation, a metropolitan organization of business and civic leaders with a continuing mission to enhance central Kansas City with public art. This project was a cooperative venture between the city of Kansas City and Jackson Country Parks and Recreation. It required two years of work, the talents of at least 150 people at a cost of nearly $500,000, much of which was donated.
Celestial Flyways
The park’s theme, Celestial Flyways, was inspired by the migratory patterns of many bird species which pass through the Kansas City area. The park design includes migratory bird routes with inlays of sixteen bird species. The park landscaping uses native prairie plants
The objective of the park’s design is to give the park visitor a sense of Kansas City’s natural environment and, hopefully, a sense of history. Animal life is represented by the migratory birds. Plant life is shown with the native plants. The sky is included through a remarkable astronomical construction.
The centerpiece of the park is an interactive sculpture based on the anaphoric clock, a model of the sky with roots deep in antiquity. The anaphoric star disk in the park is very likely the largest and most accurate astronomical machine of this type ever made.
The anaphoric star disk consists of a 10 foot (3 m.) diameter disk containing the positions of 457 stars in 50 constellations. The stars are shown by holes in the disks filled by acrylic lenses and are lighted from below. Drawings of the mythological characters associated with the constellations are etched on the surface of the disk. Park visitors rotate the star disk to a date and time with a motor operated by buttons on the base. The mechanism is not a clock since it does not run by itself. If it were a clock, the disk would rotate once in a sidereal day.
Above the rotating star disk is a grid showing the local horizon and meridian, the celestial equator and the Tropic of Cancer. The Tropic of Capricorn is the outer diameter of the disk. The meridian is accurately oriented and the horizon corresponds to the latitude of the park at 39° 6¢ North.
www.astrolabes.org/anaphoric.htm
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A complete redesign and rebuilding of Oppenstein Brothers Memorial Park at 12th and Walnut in downtown Kansas City, Missouri was dedicated on April 18, 2008. The park concept is named Celestial Flyways to celebrate the natural environment of the Kansas City area.
The park was designed by Kansas City artist Laura DeAngelis and Davison Architecture + Urban Design and was commissioned by the Art in the Loop Foundation, a metropolitan organization of business and civic leaders with a continuing mission to enhance central Kansas City with public art. This project was a cooperative venture between the city of Kansas City and Jackson Country Parks and Recreation. It required two years of work, the talents of at least 150 people at a cost of nearly $500,000, much of which was donated.
Celestial Flyways
The park’s theme, Celestial Flyways, was inspired by the migratory patterns of many bird species which pass through the Kansas City area. The park design includes migratory bird routes with inlays of sixteen bird species. The park landscaping uses native prairie plants
The objective of the park’s design is to give the park visitor a sense of Kansas City’s natural environment and, hopefully, a sense of history. Animal life is represented by the migratory birds. Plant life is shown with the native plants. The sky is included through a remarkable astronomical construction.
The centerpiece of the park is an interactive sculpture based on the anaphoric clock, a model of the sky with roots deep in antiquity. The anaphoric star disk in the park is very likely the largest and most accurate astronomical machine of this type ever made.
The anaphoric star disk consists of a 10 foot (3 m.) diameter disk containing the positions of 457 stars in 50 constellations. The stars are shown by holes in the disks filled by acrylic lenses and are lighted from below. Drawings of the mythological characters associated with the constellations are etched on the surface of the disk. Park visitors rotate the star disk to a date and time with a motor operated by buttons on the base. The mechanism is not a clock since it does not run by itself. If it were a clock, the disk would rotate once in a sidereal day.
Above the rotating star disk is a grid showing the local horizon and meridian, the celestial equator and the Tropic of Cancer. The Tropic of Capricorn is the outer diameter of the disk. The meridian is accurately oriented and the horizon corresponds to the latitude of the park at 39° 6¢ North.
www.astrolabes.org/anaphoric.htm