Client: City of Phoenix

Overview

Phoenix Light, Phoenix Rising is a massive art installation created by Los Angeles artist Susan Logoreci. It is located in the new Southwest Airlines Terminal, Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport.

The immersive, art project consists of a 10,000 square foot terrazzo floor and twenty-eight 2’ x 3’ airplane window shaped, terrazzo wall pieces. It is a captivating, progressive experience, taking the viewer from the city at night through sun drenched, local landscapes.

Inspired by the notion of a glass-bottomed airplane, the floor depicts aerial views of the Phoenix landscape. When the viewer enters the connector bridge, they will look down and see night-lights illuminating the gridded streets of neighborhoods. The images gradually change to a lighter, dawn lit view of scattered houses and streets. As the viewer continues, the colors get lighter, the houses and roads disappear into agricultural fields before ending in the golden mountains that surround Phoenix.

Goals

The goals for this project were to create a restful but engaging atmosphere. The artwork is located in a connector bridge that attaches the security area to the boarding gates. These areas in airports are known to cause stress to travelers. One of the main objectives was to catch the traveler's interest but also maintain a soothing atmosphere. Another aim of the project was to connect travelers to the Phoenix landscape, whether or not they are residents, tourists or merely changing planes and are not leaving the airport. Integrating the artwork into the architectural design was important to the project. The artwork also serves a wayfinding device to help travelers move towards their gate while experiencing art that is dynamic and connecting them to local landscapes.

Process

This project was fabricated from original paintings. In order to bring this project to life, there were many people involved such as a designer who turned my paintings into vector images, a fabricator (Marzee Co.) to create the plastic and metal borders that the terrazzo would be poured into, a floor company (Stone Finish) that created the terrazzo floor and wall pieces and installed them and an architectural firm (Corgan) that designed the interior and created the frames for the wall pieces.