Meteorological information
Summary
The Daycaster displays information about the weather during the past 24 hours.
The data consists of hourly air temperature readings (in degrees Celsius) and hourly mean sea level pressure readings (in millibars), observed at one of the Met Office's observing stations, at Dunkeswell, near Honiton. The temperature readings from Dunkeswell are increased by 1.5 degrees Celsius to approximate temperatures at the more urban location of the Daycaster.
The temperature and pressure readings for the past 24 hours are stored in a file on one of the Met Office servers. A new file is created each hour. The Daycaster installation collects, processes, and displays the data, using its onboard computer.
The Daycaster is managed and maintained by Exeter City Council. The Met Office only collects the data and makes it available to the Daycaster.
Consultants
David Narro Engineers Kevan Shaw- lighting Neil Monroe- lighting software design Ray Dolby- Lighting installation
Contractor
Parkins Engineering- metal structure Skinners- Concrete foundation Richard Horley- electrical installation
Client
Exeter City Council
Value
£89,000
The original project description
The Daycaster acts as a new gateway into the city of Exeter on the radial Honiton road. It celebrates and draws attention to the Met Office HQ’s relocation to Exeter. It occupies a site between this new HQ and the old historical records office to the south.
The structure is expressed in 24 segments, such that each chronologically represents hours in the preceding 24 hours. It makes play of meteorological data using a changing lighting display. This light is reflected from stainless steel baffles to its transient audience. The Met Office constantly receives climatic data and the Daycaster acts a visual manifestation of this ongoing measurement, analogous to a barometer.
A live feed of data from the Met Office is processed and continuously affects the hue and intensity 24 banks of LEDs underneath the length of the structure. The Hue and intensity of the 1st LED will migrate along the device, hour by hour, until 23 hours later it drops off the other end.
The hues vary from blue to magenta via white. Average conditions are described with white light. When conditions are more inclement the lighting tends towards the blue spectrum, in contrast when warmer than average, it tends towards the magenta spectrum. Variables of temperature and humidity both shape the Daycaster’s hues, intensity and display.
The information is supplied through a wi-fi web-link using the dynamic data-feed supplied by the Met Office. The radio receiver located at one end of the Daycaster receives data via wi-fi from a nearby building. The Daycaster’s circuits process this data according to its own algorithms and control the LED colours and intensity accordingly.
The Daycaster mediates the ground between the ephemeral world of meteorology and the tangible reality of our weather in a responsive structure, slow but dynamic, reflective of climate both day and night.