Digital Totem on the Beach, a Functional Art Piece Creates a New Urban Space

The digital totem, designed to sit on the waterfronts of Spain's most emblematic tourist destination, has recently been awarded Winner at the Architizer A+Product Award 2021 and Gold Winner Grand Prix du Design Awards 14th Edition 2021. Functioning as an information beacon for the beaches of the Canary Islands, the smart weather stations collect and display environmental and local information for tourists and visitors. Planning and design firm LPA Studio conducted the design for the totem.

Daylight render - Full image - Badges, Photo credit: LPA Studio

The design and its functionalities

The design re-interprets the aboriginal ceramic art pieces from the indigenous inhabitants of the islands. This art resulted from the worship of the sun god "Magheq", usually represented through circular shapes and decorative geometric patterns.

Cultural references, Photo credit: LPA Studio

The design consists of a digitally fabricated wood ring, standing vertically with a north-south orientation. The carved surface patterns are inspired by the local aboriginal art of each island, emphasizing their rich and diverse cultural differences. The northern face contains a 1.2㎡ video screen that broadcasts real-time environmental data, as well as helpful information about tourist activities and services in the area. The southern face hosts a photovoltaic module that turns sunlight into electricity.

Interpretation of the local aboriginal art of each island, Photo credit: LPA Studio

North side, Photo credit: LPA Studio

South side, Photo credit: LPA Studio

The totem performs as a seasonal sundial, thanks to perforation at the top of the wooden ring. Once a year, during the winter solstice, the sunlight shines through the hole, illuminating a customized bronze marker on the ground and celebrating the islands' extraordinary climate.

Winter solstice calendar - Diagram, Photo credit: LPA Studio

Urban space

The location and orientation of each totem generates a consistent shaded area on the northern side, creating a natural meeting point highlighted by a circular stone carpet. The sense of place is emphasized by paving art and custom urban furniture, including seating with charging stations, planters, lights, bins, and the solstice mark.

Components diagram, Photo credit: LPA Studio

Top view, Photo credit: LPA Studio

The totem infrastructural network acknowledges the more than two thousand years of the creative relationship of the Canary Islands with the sun. 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.

Night render - Full image, Photo credit: LPA Studio

Strategy diagram, Photo credit: LPA Studio

About LPA Studio

LPA Studio is a leading planning and design firm focused on sustainable and organic development of the southern regions and territories, the so-called subtropics, that feature semi-arid and Mediterrean environmental regimes. LPA Studio has a Deep commitment to the specific (economic, social, and environmental) potentialities of the subtropics, which are deployed in line with the principles and protocols of the philosophy of eco-design thinking.