Digital weather station in Spain looks like a wood ring

LPA Studios’ digital totem for the beaches of the Canary Islands has just won the Architizer A+ Product Award 2021 and the gold at Grand Prix du Design Awards 14th Edition 2021. This beautiful 2.5-meter tall digital beacon combines traditional art forms with modern function, working both as a decorative seasonal sundial and digital weather station. The device collects and displays local weather information for visitors at the beaches of the Canary Islands and celebrates the history of the culture here.

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A perforation at the top of the wooden ring allows the sunlight on the winter solstice to shine down and illuminate a bronze marker on the ground that celebrates the islands’ extraordinary climate.

A diagram breaking down the ring and what it is made out of with arrows pointing toward each part of it

The design of this beacon takes the form of a digitally-fabricated wood ring, which reinterprets aboriginal ceramic art pieces from indigenous inhabitants of the islands. An image reflects the appearance of sun god Magheq, who is often represented through circular shapes and geometric patterns.

A circular figure sits on the ground with a screen in the center and people around it looking at it

The ring stands vertically with a north-south orientation. Carved surface patterns celebrate the diverse and varied cultural differences of multiple islands here. The northern face contains a video screen that broadcasts real-time environmental data and other information about tourist facilities in the area. The southern face holds solar panels to charge the device.

Different patterns and textures in circular patterns showing the inspiration was from Indigenous culture

“The totem infrastructural network acknowledges the more than 2,000 years of the creative relationship of the Canary Islands with the sun,” said LPA Studio. “The design solution bridges past and future: from marking the solstices for agricultural purposes in ancient times, to the current sun and beach tourist industry and the critical challenge of transitioning to a renewable energy economy.”