Category:	All Civic and community Culture Display Future Projects Health Holiday House Housing (inc mixed use) Interiors and Fit Out Landscape Learning New and old Office (inc mixed use) Production, energy and recycling Shopping (inc mixed use) Sport Structural Design Transport Villa
Sub Category:	All
Country of Project:	All Albania Algeria Angola Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belgium Bhutan Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Cambodia Canada Cape Verde Chile China Colombia Costa Rica Croatia Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Estonia Fiji Finland France Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Haiti Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Ireland Israel Italy Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Korea South Kuwait Latvia Lebanon Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Luxembourg Macedonia Malaysia Maldives Malta Mauritius Mexico Morocco Namibia Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nigeria Norway Oman Pakistan Palestinian Territory, Occupied Philippines Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Romania Russia Rwanda San Marino Saudi Arabia Serbia and Montenegro Sierra Leone Singapore, Republic of Slovakia Slovenia South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Trinidad and Tobago Turkey Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States of America Uruguay Uzbekistan Venezuela Vietnam Yemen
WAF Year:	All 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
WAF Award:	All Shortlisted Winner
Keyword(s): e.g. Architect, Town

Project in Detail

"Foreverglades"

CaptionConcourse 'J' Terrazzo floor w/ text-photo inserts 
Photograph byMarcos Martinez - MStudio 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Description: “Foreverglades”. Miami International Airport. Miami, Florida

“There are no other Everglades in the world…”, the first words from poet/writer Marjorie Stoneman Douglas’ venerable ode to Florida’s unique geography, "Everglades: River of Grass", inspired a contemporary artist to create a compelling and monumental art installation, entitled, “Foreverglades”. It is the essence of the interior fit-out of the South Terminal, Concourse ‘J’ at Miami International Airport.

“Foreverglades” is considered one of the largest public art projects to be commissioned in our times. Although colossal in scale, the work remains intricate and detailed. The fit-out is a permanent, totally ordered work of art. It is a single art precinct involving floors, walls and windows, extending through two levels, made from thousands of varied components.

Passengers are first greeted at the entry with an image of a monumentally scaled, single “blade of grass” fabricated with an original terrazzo process created expressly for the project. The results of this process facilitate chiaro-scuro used for the first time in the terrazzo industry. Stepping off of the blade, a visitor will begin to see 75,000 letters of aggregated terrazzo text recreated by the artist from the Douglas book. The letters were cut by water jet and imbedded, one at a time, in a field of black epoxy and mother of pearl terrazzo. Each word within each sentence varies in size giving aesthetic weight to words of the artists’ vision. The text establishes a stream of consciousness connection with the audience. Visitors can be seen reading the words and children have been seen tracing their letters. Also inserted in the terrazzo substrate are 250, double exposed, photographic images cast in clear acrylic. The photographs are original prints taken in the Everglades by the artist and are a reminder of the eminent threat of the extinction of the glades environment. The terrazzo installation visually expands into 1450 pre-cast stone, bas-relief, wall panels which were individually hand-made and are viewed in serial progression. They create a continuum of form and movement in the architecture, pushing the eye ahead, allowing the visitor to take in the long view of the concourse at a glance. The panels form a continuous wrap of the core of the building. They are experienced differently on each of the two levels of the concourse. Viewing the panels on the first level is architecturally unifying and directional, while on the second level they can be seen one on one. The panels are intercepted with 4500 linear ft. of acrylic magnifying lens strips which cover linked photographs. The resulting image is an allusion of moving water above everglades grass. The passenger is invited to wander about in a “search and discover” mode, encountering photos, words, and thoughts on the floors and textures with imbedded details, flora particals, and memorabilia overhead as well as within touching range on the walls. Accents of brilliantly colored curtain wall glass bring a singular source of color and vibrancy to the monochrome architectural interiors.

The art contribution is a critical and integral part of the interior architecture, seamlessly interfacing with the form and structure of the building, and creating the genus loci of the Concourse. It infuses the very nature of that great space with a unique, personal identity experienced in no other airport. The tone for this installation, a Florida environment, “one that is like no other”, is established at your feet as you approach the threshold to the Concourse and it continues to resonate throughout the entire architectural experience.

“It is the artist’s job to tackle the space, not just the actual physical space occupied by the work of the sculpture installation, but the viewer’s space from which the art and architecture is contemplated. While space in an airport is managed by the forms and functions of getting on and off planes, the artist has neither prohibited that interchange nor ignored it. Instead the artist has superimposed a program of coming and going, delineating movement by texts and images, by their scale and placement, taking control of the flow with no obstruction save for the provocation of the Douglas words and the interpretation of them. There are no other Everglades outside Florida and there is no airport concourse quite like the one in Miami that spells that out. Foreverglades is an eloquent masterwork, art installation that parallels the printed effort penned 60 years ago to stay man’s grey incursion upon Florida’s most tender region. And it is more, bigger, writ large with texture and context and totally accessible. Airports everywhere might well be green with envy of its clear message.” (Exerpted from: "Public by Definition, Personal by Nature: Helen Kohen / Home Magazine)

Lead Architect »

Professional Credits »

Supplier / Product Credits »

• Home|
• Contact Us|
• Ts & Cs|
• Sitemap

© 2008 World Buildings Directory. All rights reserved. Site by Frontmedia