Artwork to Enhance The New SLC
Gordon Huether and his team have been selected to work with the Salt Lake City Department of Airports (SLCDA) to create large-scale, permanent art installations for The New SLC.
The Canyon
Huether’s largest art installation titled “The Canyon,” is integrated on both walls of the new airport terminal.
The Canyon
The Canyon evokes the Salt Lake City landscape and spans 362 feet, roughly the length of a football field, using 2.5 acres of composite fabric, and the equivalent of seven miles of aluminum tubing. The entire work consists of 412 individual tensile membrane fins.
The Falls
Additional installations integrated into The New SLC design, include the "Column Plates" and an 80-foot-tall escalator well sculpture titled “The Falls.” The sculptural Column Plates, located in a gathering area for both arriving and departing passengers, are made of composite material and create a visual distinction for the various activities taking place in the open space. The sculptural forms of the columns provide interest and induce a sense of wonder, while maintaining their functionality and visibility of the view corridor.
As a focal point of a high-traffic area, The Falls sculpture makes use of the natural light provided by the curtain wall near the three-story escalator well, creating intriguing color effects in its vicinity. Colorful, light-sensitive dichroic glass fins are partnered with light-refracting glass rods to create ever-changing colors and patterns on adjacent surfaces.
Gordon Huether Studio was the recipient of a 2018 SARA National Design Award for designing The Canyon, The Falls, The Plates and Benches all of which are located in The New SLC.
The River Tunnel
The River Tunnel art installation is featured in the 1,000-foot long Central Tunnel connecting concourses A and B. The art installation was inspired by the beauty of Utah and reflects the rivers that flow through the state’s mountains and canyons. Artist Gordon Huether has created a completely immersive experience—from the terrazzo flooring to the blue ceiling, walls and lighting—to create a cohesive, congruous experience for passengers. The art installation is fabricated in the same fashion as The Canyon, which is a membrane sculpture made up of individual “fins” that have an aluminum frame wrapped with a Tweave Duratech 570C fabric material and enclosed with a zipper along the spine back. LED lighting is projected onto the fins in tones of blue. A curated travel-themed music playlist will play a 100-song playlist through 150 high quality speakers. Click here to see the River Tunnel Fact Sheet.
For renderings of The New SLC art installations, go to https://gordonhuether.com/salt-lake-city-international-airport.
Click here for a behind-the-scenes look Gordon Huether's work.
Click here for information on the Whimsy Wall Art Project.