This 69,000 Square Foot (1.5 acre) project has transformed the airside terminal into a vast blue sky. Images and a description of the project can be found below.
Project completed: October 2015.
Terrazzo Project - Pittsburgh International Airport
Description of Project and Its Development:
When I was invited to submit a proposal for the terrazzo project at the airport, I knew immediately that it was going to be a perfect match with my work. For years I have been making paintings of the sky, often with unusual perspectives that include the entire circle of the horizon. The effect of these paintings is to defy gravity and induce a feeling of flying -- a bit like being a kid lying on the ground gazing up into the clouds.
I realized that the circular central hub of the airport would make a spectacular sky – and that the experience of striding across the surface of the sky could be a beautiful and extraordinary extension of the magic of air travel, so that the mundane act of walking through the airport could be transformed into an evocation of the freedom, speed and openness of flight.
So, the central element of the design is a vast blue sky with clouds scattered around for visual drama. Crisscrossing this sky are a dozen “flight paths” that connect points all around the circular horizon, unifying and stitching together disparate sites, acting as pathways between locations within the airport, and implying the universal connectivity that is so central to the way the world works today. Along these “flight paths” travelers encounter inlaid silhouettes of various airplanes and other things that fly (satellite, helicopter, the space shuttle, etc.) which encourage and reward exploration and interaction.
Around the horizon, (at the intersections of the concourses with the hub and at the food court) five large silhouettes representing five iconic Pittsburgh neighborhoods are featured. These include Downtown seen from the Ohio River; the South Side, including the Smithfield Street Bridge and the Duquesne Incline; Oakland including The Carnegie Museums, Phipps, PITT and CMU; The North Shore, including Heinz Field, PNC Park and the Science Center. The Fifth silhouette is the Carrie Furnace, which serves as a reminder of heavy industry in the city, and as a transition into the topographical map of the Mon Valley that meanders through the area of the food court.
I am certain that all travelers, whether visitors to Pittsburgh or locals, will find something to connect with in the imagery. The project is an invitation to slow down and contemplate the act of flying – to see it from a fresh angle, making it new and surprising again. It's also an opportunity to connect physically with Pittsburgh as a specific place as well as to continue the sense of moving quickly over great distances, extending the extraordinary experience of flying in low over the city that they have just experienced or are just about to experience.
