Atlanta AirPort Sculpture

GIFRE · “WINGS OF ATLANTA” sculpture

Category: Sculpture (Contest finalist)

Artist: PERE GIFRE

Project manager: DANIEL MOLINA

Partners: Jose María Velasco (AMATRIA Engineering) and Lorenzo Barón (Manufacture Manager)

Place: Transition Hall · Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport

This Project, “Wings of Atlanta” has been chosen as one of the five projects selected to submit a large hanging sculpture proposal (23x14x5m) for the Transition Hall site of Atlanta International Airport (USA), the busiest airport in the world over 90 million passengers a year.

I had several objectives when approaching the concept and what it should represent: it had to be avant-garde, surprising, symbolic, easily recognizable, dynamic, interactive and it also had to represent flight as something magical and evoke into the viewer the sensation of freedom, the breaking of barriers and reaching new limits. It had to be internationally symbolic and at the same time represent Atlanta and the United States. I also wanted it to represent the beauty of nature and the fragile environment that we have to protect.

http://www.atlanta-airport.com/

“The wings of Atlanta”

Is it an eagle? Is it a plane? No, it’s… the new sculpture for Atlanta Airport.

This sculpture, for the new Transition Hall, symbolizes a journey towards new frontiers: the representation of an eagle in full flight, passing through clouds of water on its trip around the world.

Conceptual views showing the sculpture within the space designated for its location.

Inferior view of the sculpture. Detail of the central body and the two hoops that surround it.

Conceptual views showing the sculpture within the space designated for its location.

Once…A Bird.

Throughout history birds have been observed by mankind. We have always seen in them something magical and unique: their ability to fly. Wishing to imitate them, we have always imagined and desired to experience this sensation of freedom. Thanks to aviation this has become possible. With this sculpture, we aim to move people; allowing them to envisage this sensation of freedom and the ability to reach any part of the world within hours…not only by means of a simple method of transport but as something magical. By flying.

An Iconic and International Form. Symbol.

It is very important that the form of the sculpture is iconic for those who see it. We do not want an abstract, non-identifiable element. We want everybody who passes through the Airport to recognize, remember, and even draw it when they arrive home and describe it to their family or friends.

For this reason we have chosen the figure of a bird – an internationally recognizable form which is also a symbol of freedom, peace and kinship between towns and countries. This is what we want for Atlanta Airport: a symbol that unites places and people throughout the world, just as aviation does by bringing them together in a fast, safe and comfortable way.

> From the U.S.A. to the World.

Atlanta Airport is in the United States, and because of this our proposal has to be an international but also very American concept. Having already stated our reasons for using the form of a bird as the basis for our proposal, we believe that there would be nothing more fitting than the eagle, which is the symbol of the USA. We must also remember that the American eagle was in danger of extinction some years ago. Thus the concept also represents the desire to conserve all things precious.

> A Contemporary Sculpture.

We did not want to make a figurative sculpture that leaves no scope for the imagination. For this reason our design will not be in the shape of a conventional eagle, but one that will transform into an airplane and the patterns that it generates when flying. All of this will be achieved by using water-based formations to create a contemporary, iconic and avant-garde sculpture. We aim for the sculpture to make people think, travel, and mainly to imagine.

> Respect for the Environment and Nature.

The sculpture will be a symbol of the environment and respect for nature. For this reason it has been designed using water formations, because water symbolizes purity, and is the best representation of the world that we want for the future: a clean world without pollution.

Water is also an element that people instinctively recognize and appreciate. For this reason, travelers would naturally feel drawn to the sculpture.

> The Sensation of Flying. Dynamism. Breaking barriers.

In designing the sculpture, we have wanted to go beyond what it conceptually represents. We want the observer to feel that the sculpture is really flying. For this reason we have recreated certain patterns that are generated in the sky with the passage of airplanes, such as the trails that they leave, the vortices generated by the passage of their wings, the vapor from the engines as they cut through the atmosphere in search of new frontiers, and the conoidal shapes that are generated when the sound barrier is broken.

The sculpture accomplishes all of this in such a dynamic form that by observing or photographing it, we have the sensation that we have captured an image in its real flight.

> Interaction with the Traveler.

Passengers would be able to interact with the sculpture both physically and emotionally. Physically because people will be able to see and photograph their own reflections in the chromed sculpture. Emotionally, because the people who approach it will have just had the experience of flying, or will be about to do so. The form and the concept of the sculpture will help to enhance their experience: to remind people that flying, as well as being the easiest and safest way to travel, is also something magical and exciting. It will also ensure that their experience of Atlanta Airport itself is totally unforgettable.

We also want the observer to be constantly surprised when seeing the sculpture both for the first time, and as they look at it from different perspectives. This is why, at the back, we have strategically placed the pieces which form the trail left in the wake of the airplane so that they come together to form the shape of the Earth, but which can only be seen from beneath the sculpture.

> CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT / VFX ENGINEERING

We also want the sculpture to be a symbol of the environment and respect for nature. For this reason it has been designed using water formations, because water symbolizes purity, and is the best representation of the world that we want for the future: a clean world without pollution.

Study of different forms that are generated in the sky by different aircraft during flight.

Bio-mechanic study of the structure of an eagle and its flight. For the final concept we have chosen the moment indicated, where the eagle glides as it were an airplane.

Processes of simulation of dynamic and fluid systems and that have been used to create the sculpture. Thanks to these not only have we been able to generate the sculpture but also give it dynamism.

Water pieces are integrated into the whole sculpture. Here, in order to recreate the Earth using water-like forms, it has been divided into separate pieces which have then been transformed by means of fluid simulation.

In order to be able to calculate the viability of the project and also its volume and surface area, we had to adapt the pieces created by means of fluid simulation and dynamic systems, changing them into simpler volumetric pieces that can be recognized by CAD/CAM programs.

General dimensions of the sculpture taking into consideration the space and budget available. These are estimated measurements taken from the calculations made before having carried out a detailed study of the project.

Once the final concept has been designed, this will be carried out by breaking the structure down into simpler masses and dividing them into groups in order to make accurate calculations.

We have divided the sculpture into 6 main groups that will be studied individually in order to analyze them better. This is because the production of the pieces will differ for each group.

In order to carry out a structural study of the grid that will support the sculpture and make accurate calculations we had to adapt the generated volumes to parallelepipeds.

The volumes created in order to calculate the structure will be slightly larger than the authentic ones. In this way we add a safety margin to the structure.

Inferior view of the sculpture in which we can see the different groups that form the overall piece. It must be emphasized that all the groups were created using fluid simulations.