Cambridge 2000: Corpus Christi College: Bene't Street: Taylor Library, Corpus Clock

Description: Corpus Christi College: Bene't Street: Taylor Library, Corpus Clock
Date built: 2003-2008
Designer: John Taylor
Corpus Christi College: Bene't Street: Taylor Library, Corpus Clock (John Taylor) map for Corpus Christi College: Bene't Street: Taylor Library, Corpus Clock
Date photograph taken: 20 Sep 2008 (Alternative map: Google map)

An amazing feat of design, this clock is located in what was once the main entrance of a bank. The building was converted in 2005-2008 to provide a library and JCR for Corpus Christi College.

The clock was unveiled at around 6 PM on 19 September 2008 in front of a crowd of a few hundred people. It is around 1.5m in diameter and is made of a single sheet of steel, plated in 24-carat gold. It cost around a million pounds (around 1.3 million Euros), and five years, to make.

The creature on top is a grasshopper, and is the escapement mechanism. The grasshopper was sculpted by Matthew Lane Sanderson.

In order to display the time, there are three concentric circles, each with 60 slits in them, and with the current slit being indicated with a blue light. The outermost circle is for seconds, and the innermost for hours. The seconds light does not actually keep time but moves about in an interesting way.

A second version of the clock was unveiled in the Science Museum in London on 18 April 2011.

Other photographs within 100 m: