Client: Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport

Location: Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

Completion date: 2017

Artwork budget: $380,000

Project Team

Industry Resource

Brian McCutcheon

Ignition Arts LLC

Artist

Emily White

Public Art Agent

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport

Overview

Wavelength addresses the nature of place by indexing a spectrum of shape and color collected from the site. The project speaks to a wide range of people- locals, travelers, art enthusiasts, children- using a palette of material, shape and color that resonate broadly. Aluminum and steel construction with 13 colors in Kynar 500 finish, 44 ft x 31 ft x 20 ft

Goals

Situated at the intersection of two concourses in the newly expanded Terminal 1, the project engages people perceptually and physically, visually enveloping passengers as they pass underneath. It presents a dynamic interplay of colors and shapes that evoke specific shades of light refracting through the Atlantic Ocean in South Florida. To convey the qualities of light without a great deal of mass, we used thin sheets of folded aluminum to define a loose waveform volume.

Process

For our collaboration on Wavelength, our roles were as follows: Emily White, artist; Brian McCutcheon, Ignition Arts LLC (fabrication, project management and installation); Lucas Brown, Brownsmith Studios (digital design development, project management and installation). The project presented our team with an extremely complicated design environment. Through the process, we maintained close communication with the Broward County Cultural Division’s project manager, airport project architect, two engineering firms, city agencies, and vendors to ensure the project progressed on schedule and that the design was integrated into the larger whole. Together, our team’s technical expertise is broad and deep, giving us the flexibility to solve challenging problems related to site conditions and material availability.

Additional Information

We value artistic excellence, technical precision, and an open and positive process among the team as well as with all project stakeholders and consultants. For us, engagement involves listening to and considering the point of view of everyone involved in the project, from community members to subcontractors to project administrators. We believe excellence depends on a collaborative process.