News

Abu Dhabi-Backed Tech Sculpture To Be Installed In Houston

Created for the LAGI 2019 design competition in Abu Dhabi, the high-tech installation will double as a renewable power plant.

Published

3 years ago

July 31, 2023

Nour Nasir

abu dhabi-backed tech sculpture to be installed in houston

LAGI

“The world’s largest sundial”, designed by Berlin architect Riccardo Mariano, is set to be installed in the city of Houston, Texas, in the city’s East End neighborhood in 2024.

The project was made possible by the Land Art Generator Initiative partnership with Masdar City, an Abu Dhabi urban development dedicated to creating sustainable cities and lifestyles. For those unaware, Houston, Texas, is twinned with the capital of the United Arab Emirates, hence the connection.

the arco del tiempo houston 1

The 30-meter-tall sundial will be known as the Arco del Tiempo (Arch of Time) and functions as an interactive clock, casting sunlight onto the surface of Guadalupe Plaza Park. The installation’s geometry, carefully designed according to Houston’s latitude and longitude, is accurate throughout the seasons and hours of the day.

the arco del tiempo houston 2

However, the Arco del Tiempo is far more than just a sculpture. The project will also serve as a renewable energy power generation plant. The finished arch will incorporate solar modules on its south-facing side, generating around 400 megawatt-hours of electricity annually — the equivalent energy consumption of 40 local homes.

Also Read: Kuwait Bans Cryptocurrencies, Putting An End To Virtual Assets

“It was a pleasure to be part of the LAGI competition in 2019, and we’re very excited to see the winning entry come to life—particularly in Abu Dhabi’s sister city,” said Chris Wan, Associate Director of Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility at Masdar City. “We know that public art plays a significant role in the fabric of a city, and Arco del Tiempo is so much more than public art: it will also educate the public about sustainability while celebrating and advocating for it. It’s a powerful combination. I hope to see more art like it in the cities of the future”.

Over its lifetime, the Arco del Tiempo is projected to generate over 12 million kilowatt-hours of renewable energy, effectively removing 8,500 metric tons of CO2.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 days ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.