While in India this past February, I made a visit to the Jantar Mantar in Jaipur. Conceived as the embodiment of astronomical instrumentation, the Jantar Mantar is a series of building-sized measuring devices set in a park. The structures are a wonderful example of the intertwining of design and function. The image here shows measuring devices integrated into the walls in a beautiful way. Like other structures in the park, this building’s carved stone details arc to follow the path of the sun, taking advantage of cast shadows to enable readings – whether of time or of the location of planets.
