James Turrell, “Twilight Epiphany”, Light Sculpture Installation, Rice University, Houston, Texas

The Mayan looking mound with the flat roof suspended above it at the head of Rice University’s forlorn upper quad is artist James Turrell’s latest Skyspace — one of only 73 in various incarnations he’s made so far, and the the second in Houston. But it’s the first Skyspace designed for music — the kind you’d want to listen to while staring through a 14-ft.-by-14-ft. opening in a raised roof at the darkening sky around sundown, or a lightening one at dawn.

The structure has been named “Twilight Epiphany”. It sits just outside the east entrance of Rice’s Shepherd School of Music. A sold-out, silent performance in the space marked the space’s public opening. The new structure was designed by Turrell with New York architects Thomas Phifer and Partners. An array of computer-controlled LEDs at the top of the mound projects a 40-minute light show on the underside of the roof, matched — for the audience inside — against the single lot of aerial real estate seen through the center opening.

Dawn and dusk light shows are planned daily; A website set up by Rice (http://skyspace.rice.edu/cms/visit-skyspace/) shows the schedules and a continuous countdown clock showing the time till the next performance.