Indianapolis, IA
Project Description:
For the Indianapolis Airport Authority’s Airport Arts & Culture Program, I
propose a three-sided 50’ tetrahedral form that rises from a 22’ bermed
earthen mound.
Historically, important sites have often been identified by a monolithic
marker, a column, obelisk or pyramid. The Indianapolis Airport, in America’s
heartland, would be well served with an iconic marker to provide a memorable
identity for the airport and the City of Indianapolis. The tetrahedral
marker defines the intersection of the surrounding geographical region, a
point at which the regions merge.
The berm and structure rise as a continuous form from the immediate wine
-glass geography of the site. Evolved as a spatial intersection of three
hyperbolic curves, this form addresses the geographical regions of the West,
Northeast and Southeast.
The tetrahedral form is a structural matrix of powder-coated,
galvanized-steel rods utilizing five basic colors. The effect of including a
four-inch stainless-steel disk at each vertex combined with the color of the
powder-coated rods is that of an enormous prism that captures and reflects
light, creating a glistening impressionistic experience not unlike the
effect of water vapor in the atmosphere or a rainbow in the sky. The berm
and structure represent the broad, sweeping fertile land of Indiana being
drawn up into the sky, suggesting the airport is Indianapolis’s portal to
the world and the world’s portal to Indianapolis. This work is intended to
communicate the image of the zone between earth and sky, the zone of air
travel.
Click on image for animation (11MB Quicktime)
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