Background

The Golden Hour Clock began as a project to explore the concept of time. I was interested in the idea of time being a human construct, and how we perceive time. I wanted to create a clock that would display time in a way that was not numerical, but rather, in a way that was more natural and intuitive. I was inspired by the idea of the golden hour, a period shortly after sunrise or before sunset during which daylight is redder and softer than when the Sun is higher in the sky. I wanted to create a clock that would display time using colors, and the colors would change depending on the time of day. After the sun set, the clock would display partially in a dark blue color, depending on the phase of the moon.

Design

I began ideating the clock through sketching. I wanted the clock to have a minimalist shape that had LEDs behind it, bouncing the light against the wall it hung on. I wanted a soft, ambient light that felt pleasing to look at.

Technical Details

The clock face is made of acrylic, with a NeoPixel strip wrapped behind it. Controlling the NeoPixels is an Arduino Nano IoT 33. Using the library, WiFiNINA, the Arduino connects to the internet and gets the current time from the NTP server. Using the Arduino's current location, the library, sunset, to get the time of sunrise and sunset, the Arduino then converts the time into a color value, and sends the color value to the NeoPixels. The clock is powered by a 5V 2A power supply.

Final Result