To experience the piece, the site is approached from the west, driving across the flat plain of the Painted Desert. The road makes a half circle on the north side of the crater and comes up a ravine on its northeast side. Walking to the top of this ravine, one reaches a walkway that follows the circular malapai rim of the fumarole on the northeast side of the crater. This level walkway is approximately 250 feet above the plain. Viewing the plain from here gives the first sense of expansion of space. From here, a trail proceeds up the side of the fumarole. The top of the fumarole is approximately 180 feet above the malapai rim, and this change in height also results in expansion of space. In the top of the fumarole will be located several spaces which work with the spaces of the sky and different events that occur in it. These spaces will also afford some protection for overnight or extended stays at the site. Each of these spaces is in itself a piece, and whenever possible, passage from one space to another is worked so that events in the sky effect changes in the space. The logic is similar to the Mendota Stoppages,but in day and night aspects the piece is completely performed by events that occur in the sky. Some of the events that occur in the spaces happen daily, some semiannually, equidistant from the solstices, and others occur very infrequently. In each case, the events produce changes in the spatial qualities. From these spaces on the top of the fumarole, a tunnel proceeds up into the crater. The tunnel extends 1,035 feet and is aligned to capture the southernmost moonset. The shape of the tunnel, a semicircular arch 81/2 feet in diameter and 9 feet tall, will allow full vision of the lunar disc when this alignment is achieved. Proceeding up the tunnel, you will be able to see only sky.

The entrance from the tunnel into the crater space is made through an intermediate space which is similar to the earlier Skyspaces. The spaces at the top of this chamber creates a sense of flat closure of transparent skin. Steps proceed out of this chamber in such a way that the entrance does not occlude vision of the sky from the tunnel. Passing through the flat, transparent plane, the sense of closure recedes to a curved skin within the larger space of the open sky.

The crater space is formed to support and make malleable the sense of celestial vaulting. This is accomplished by the shaping of the crater, the size of this space, and the height of the new horizon above the normal horizon. Changes in the sense of the shape and size of this interior space are experienced as one moves out from the center of the crater and up the inside. This naturally begins to include more of the space outside of the crater than experienced when first entering from the chamber. The rate at which this sense changes is determined by the change in slope. As one proceeds up the inside slope toward the rim, the celestial vaulting will no longer attach to the crater rim, but will expand out to the far horizon. The largest amount of space is experienced when one reaches the rim of the crater.

Roden Crater Site Plan, 1992

 

Roden Crater Schematic Site Plan

The plans for the first building phase of Roden Crater,between 1997 and 2000, include the further reshaping of the crater bowl - 450,000 cubic yards of earth have already been rearranged - and the realization of the South Lodge,a connecting passageway to the Sun and Moon Space,its realization, connection to the central crater space by means of the East Alpha Tunnel,which runs in a northeastern direction, and the East Alpha Tunnel's Portal. The first building phase will end with the completion of the Eye of the Crater. The Fumarole Spaces,the South Spaceand the North Moon Spaceas well as the chambers on the edge of the secondary crater, such as the East Spaceand the Amphitheater in the southwestern part of the volcano, are meant to be realized in a later phase.

Roden Crater, 1987 /sectional model

South Space, 1998 /model in 2 parts

North Space, 1998 /model in 2 parts

Sun and Moon Space, 1997 /elevation and plan view

The spaces at the level of the esplanade interact predominantly with the sun, although there are important exceptions to this rule, particularly in terms of the North Space,which deals with the precision of the pole star. At the next level of the crater, however, the moon and other astronomical objects become central to the crater's interactive network of light and space.

The Sun and Moon Space,a space with a round cross-section, may be accessed via underground ramps. The visual axes of the two entranceways run perpendicular to respectively placed surfaces of a white stone in the middle of the room. Each access tunnel functions as a camera obscura projecting the images of sun or moon onto one or the other side of the stone's surface. Every 18.61 years, when the moon reaches its southernmost declination, its image, including the vast craters, will be visible inside the room. Sun projections may be experienced twice a year, at the time of the solstices. At those times, the surface texture of the sun, which is riddled with black dots, will be just as clearly visible as ongoing protuberances. The contours of both images will stay sharp for about 2 minutes only, the remaining time the Sun and Moon Spacewill be awash with an even, unfocussed light of the Ganzfeldtype. The space will be lined with black and white stone and the floor covered with black sand in order to make the projected images of the planets glow.

Eye of the Crater, 1998 /model in 2 parts

Eye of the Crater, 1997 /elevation and plan view

One of the most interesting spaces at the crater is designed for a position at the center of the bowl. The Eye of the Crater will be located just above the magma core, which echo soundings indicate to be about 38 feet below the floor of the crater bowl. The sculptural space is conceived as a concave hemisphere that will function as a naked-eye observatory. Various platforms of the north underside of the space are designed to allow viewers to sight astronomical events. For the effect of the celestial vaulting a flat pavement around the outside perimeter of the chamber is designed to have four stone reclining benches with headrests to help viewers find the best positions for lying down and observing the sky.