Why isn't 12 o'clock North?

[claybcook]

Curious. My first Burn was amazing and I'll be back, but it struck me as odd that 6 o'clock wasn't due South. The Playa is vast enough and it's only a matter of orientation to align the city in whatever manner the organizers choose. If not North/South, it could have been aligned to sunrise or sunset, but that wasn't the case either. It matters not, and I'd be happy knowing it was decided by cutting a deck of cards or a dart throw, but my mind can't help wondering how the orientation came about.

[Traveller in Time]

Daylight saving time ?

Most of the time The Man downwind ?

Indeed curious 10:30 is North

For what I see (on a simulation) the city has mountains nearby while the open playa has miles of playa for background

[Just_Joe]

Dunno if it's true, but I've heard tale that Rod Garrett, the original designer of the BRC Clock layout, set it up so that Center Camp, the focal point of the city , got a bitchin' view of the sunrise over the Man.
https://o7fe62guj6g73vlj30xpogpm-wpengi ... BRC_99.jpg
In the last many years, it's swung a few degrees one way or the other, I assume to lessen our impact on the playa.
For the last several, 4:30 has been the North/South line, which puts prevailing winds straight up 6:00.

Rod passed away in 2011 and I believe "Ring Road" was renamed Rod's Road that same year.

Here's a pretty interesting blog post that Rod wrote in 2010 about the city design.
Check out the comments for further discussion from Larry (and Rod).
https://journal.burningman.org/2010/04/ ... rock-city/

[Traveller in Time]

The sun first tipping the head of the man, rather symbolic

Thanks for pointing the comments, some years since I read them The long deadening annular streets have indeed been intersected by some radials.

Over the years the 'open' side of the C-ity has always been about NorthEast and the side with the most wide view. This is another orientation factor for the city, the Design lacks the orientation using the Man as center after Saturday night.

[motskyroonmatick]

So the airport runway lines up with one side of the pentagon and is with/against the prevailing wind.

[claybcook]

Ok, as an aviator, that's the most reasonable explanation I've heard yet. Also, things seem to align to give Center Camp a nice sunrise over the man. OK. Good to know.

[XPTom]

sundial-clock-15895747.jpg

sundial-clock-15895747.jpg

[XPTom]

What time is it? Time to take our watches off.....

[Sham]

The street numbers have nothing to do with the layout of the city in relation to a compass. It's more to do with the names of the streets and navigating your way around.

[XPTom]

The street numbers have nothing to do with the layout of the city in relation to a compass. It's more to do with the names of the streets and navigating your way around.

But a sundial layout could mean something. New 0600 (approx 077 true) would be pointed at the sunrise. New
12:00 street would be pointed near true south at the noon sun(old 4:00) Sunset would be approx old 8:00 and of course confuse people who wonder what nineteen hundred O'clock is. Streets that point at the sun at the proper time can be understood by some, but tear a hole in the fabric of the universe for others.

[jasonk]

Since 2014 (at least), the alignment for "sunrise over The Man" has been very poor (see maps in viewtopic.php?f=3&t=78496)

Maybe it's the pentagon/airport runway/wind thing.

The only possibly-intentional "sun alignment" I see, is that 2:00 road seems to consistently line-up quite closely with sunset.

We need a city planner to gives us a definitive answer! Inquiring minds want to know!

[Eric]

The street numbers have nothing to do with the layout of the city in relation to a compass. It's more to do with the names of the streets and navigating your way around.

Yup - the radials didn't even get named with numbers until 2004, to make it easier for Emergency Services to find their way around. That's also when the other streets became strictly A-B-C... after Esplanade, for the same reason. in 2003 they went alphabetically, but they skipped a bunch of letters.

A lot of the shit accumulated on the hull of Burning Man was not there originally, but accrued over the years based on need or other factors (see: the 10 Principles). It only looks thought out when you didn't watch it happen.

[Leap]

It's to maximize the effect of the dust created from gate road so it goes right down the middle of the city, through center camp and onto the playa.

[trilobyte]

Actually, Eric, the A/B/C thing didn't come properly until 2005. 2004 was my first year, and with "Vault Of Heaven" as the theme, the streets were named for the planets and order of their distance from the sun. Most people are solid on planetary order until you get to Mars, but then you'd overhear lots of hilarious conversations among confused groups that couldn't figure out what came after what.

[mrchiff]

with "Vault Of Heaven" as the theme, the streets were named for the planets and order of their distance from the sun.

The planet names and clock face designations were used in '99 as well (Wheel of Time).

[Rice]

hmm what does this mean? Isn't in 12 o clock? Where do you see the time for that

This is where Playa Time comes from . . . vague, confused and inaccurate

[666isMONEY]

6:00 is almost a straight line to Black Rock Point but as said above, 4:30 is N/S. Plus, the opening between 10 and 2 takes in great view of the length of the playa. feng shui
https://www.triposo.com/loc/Black_Rock_ ... background