The U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey opened in 2003 and was designed by ZGF Architects. It sits on a 23-acre site in Istinye and is located on a hilltop overlooking the water. Maya Lin’s sundials are installed in the Consulate’s arrival and interior courtyards.
Maya Lin was commissioned by FAPE in 2001 to create a work for the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul. The artist designed a large Equatorial Sundial for the consulate’s arrival courtyard. It is composed of a granite disk—measuring 14 feet in diameter—and a slender vertical pole that faces north and casts a shadow during the day, marking the hours as they pass. Set in a reflecting pool, the sundial has an array of fiber-optic lights to mark each hour during each month of the year.
Maya Lin
Equatorial Sundial
2003
Turkish granite and stainless steel, 14 feet in diameter
The Analemmatic Sundial is sited in a reflecting pool in the interior courtyard of the consulate. A stone plinth is etched with the months of the year and when a person steps onto the plinth, his or her shadow falls within an arc of numbers floating in the pool, telling the time of day. After the sun goes down, these numbered markers light up in accordance with the time.
Gift of the artist with additional funding provided by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Nancy M. Folger, Elizabeth Pozen and Elizabeth Szancer
Maya Lin
Analemmatic Sundial
2003
Turkish granite and stainless steel, 21 x 10 feet.
U.S. Consulate in Istanbul, Turkey
İstinye Mahallesi, Üç Şehitler Sokak No.2
İstinye 34460, Istanbul, Turkey
