wooden pivot floor clock - clock design for visually impaired

When I first began to think about this assignment, I was immediately drawn to objects with time, naturally embedded in their structure. I thought about watches that we carry with us. Biological processes, hunger, thirst, digestion, outdoor sounds...cycles...water evaporation. Cycle of degradation, change. This timeline exists in all things, but often in a way that is not easy to perceive. (too fast, too slow and unable to sense). You could potentially use the oxidation of a copper roof outside your bedroom window as a clock. But, not to tell time in seconds, instead perhaps in years. People use the sun as a way to denote time for a few good reasons it seems. It changes in a way that is perceivable by our natural, un-augmented senses. And cycles in a way that is close to and thus "sets" our own clocks(24.5 hour cycle to 24 of sun). Almost no confusion there. The sun's presence is everywhere, and can be noted as a parameter that is present in the things we design.


I started thinking about how big a role sunlight plays in living spaces. How our houses are designed to tell the time. but what about people who cannot see light? From here I got the idea of a clock that is a panel sits on a pivot on the floor (hopefully for safety reasons would be subtly and seamlessly embedded in architecture). But the model still works as a floor, desk, wrist, wall... clock. The panel pivots in according to what time it is, and subtly steers you to a location in your house where you should be at that time. (that is how the idea came to be, but it works with out those implementations).

A simple square panel, a pivot (ball) on center underside. On upper surface a raised marker to indicate 12.
8 discrete time positions, (edges and corners...but can use distance between floor and edge as a way to precisely tell the times in between).

You can use your body to tell time (stand on clock and "feel time"). Or you can use a blind walking cane to feel the surface, angle of surface to ground according to pivot.

The pivot rotates according to the time of day.
12:00->top edge is flat on ground.
3:00->right edge is flat on ground.
4:30->bottom-right corner is on ground. (with equal space edges adjacent to corner)
1:10->top-right corner is on ground, but adjacent edge space between ground and wooden surface is less between upper edge than on right edge...

My in class idea used the cycle of wet cloth drying to tell the time. I thought that this was an ok solution, but one for very rigid constraints. Hang a wet cloth in the morning on an elastic rope. At earlier times of day when the cloth is wet, when you prick the elastic, it is a higher note...later, cloth dry, lighter, lower note. Problems: higher learning curve, (even though I like the idea of evolving a relationship with objects), maybe not so precise(needs controlled air, temp conditions), uses two variables...tactile "wetness of cloth" but also sound "prick elastic", to broadcast time,...not so necessary or efficient (unless there are more constraints).