The Mizwala reinterprets a long-developed principle of Islamic timekeeping — reading time through the sun and its shadow — as a public sculpture for the Tharwa Sea Front. Across the Islamic world, sundials have historically served not only to mark clock time but also to determine the hours of prayer. True to its name — Mizwala, meaning "sundial" — this project does not invent a new symbol. Instead, it reconfigures a principle of timekeeping that already exists, calibrated to this site's sun, horizon, and the conditions of public space.

 

The form is simple: a single circular dial, a sharp steel blade crossing above it, and the shadow the blade casts. Curved lines tracing the shadow's path as the sun moves are inscribed onto the dial's surface, which holds a shallow layer of standing water — mirroring the sky, the sculpture, and the moving shadow as it crosses the water.

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The materials are planned primarily as steel, marble, and precast concrete, with surface treatment and long-term durability assessed against the coastal environment's salinity, high temperatures, and wind. The steel blade is finished in red polyurethane with PVD gold accents, while the pool and plaza use two light marble varieties. This aligns with the competition's direction, which calls for materials suited to Saudi Arabia's climate, along with consideration of long-term maintenance and feasibility.

 

Where the shadow falls on the dial is never arbitrary. It is calculated from the sun's actual position at this specific site — a process explained in the following section. The Mizwala is therefore not a static monument. It begins working anew each day from the moment the sun rises, and people walking and lingering around it experience the movement of time firsthand.