New Exhibition Provides New Views on Airport Form and Function
“Art of the Airport Tower” opens Nov. 11 at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The exhibition is composed of 50 photographs by Smithsonian photographer Carolyn Russo and explores the varied forms and functions of airport traffic control towers in the U.S. and around the world. The exhibit is on view during FotoWeekDC and will remain on display at the museum until November 2016.
Russo traveled to 85 airports in 23 countries to capture images of these towers. The resulting photos interpret them as monumental abstractions, symbols of cultural expression and testimonies of technological change. What started out as a strictly functional structure, the airport tower has become a symbol of its airport, its community and even its country. Visitors to the Stockholm-Arlanda Airport in Sweden, for example, are greeted by two lookout points perched like birds at the top of the control tower to evoke protective ravens from Nordic mythology, while the crescent-shaped tower at the Abu Dhabi International Airport resembles the sail of a dhow boat to emphasize the area’s proud maritime heritage.
“Airport traffic control towers have a powerful presence—they watch over the vastness of the airport and sky, are a nonjudgmental cultural greeter, a choreographer or conductor of the aircraft dance, a mother bird caring for her flock and an omniscient, intelligent structure keeping humans safe,” said Russo. “I saw them as the unsung heroes of the airport landscape and tried to elevate them beyond their height and amazing architecture.”
Russo attempted to humanize the contemporary towers by focusing on their anthropomorphic properties, while others became abstractions. The photos of the historic, inactive airport towers were captured in their natural state, as witnesses to aviation history. They tell the story of changing technology, design and architecture, making the case for their continued care and preservation.
For more information about the exhibition, visit airandspace.si.edu/exhibitions/airport-towers.
The exhibition is sponsored by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, Air Traffic Control Association, Harris Corp., Rockwell Collins, Saab and Thales. Epson America Inc. and Manfrotto provided in-kind support.
The exhibition will begin its traveling tour in December 2016. For more information on the tour, click here.
A companion book, Art of the Airport Tower, is for sale in Smithsonian and other retail stores. It includes 100 photos and an introduction by F. Robert van der Linden, curator of commercial aviation at the National Air and Space Museum, and tells the history of airport traffic control towers to contextualize the photos. Russo will be signing books at the museum Nov. 11. from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Click here for more information.
The National Air and Space Museum building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. The museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Va., near Washington Dulles International Airport. Attendance at both buildings combined exceeded 8 million in 2014, making it the most visited museum in America. The museum’s research, collections, exhibitions and programs focus on aeronautical history, space history and planetary studies. Both buildings are open from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. every day (closed Dec. 25).
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Edinburgh Airport, Scotland, United Kingdom (EDI/EGPH)
Originally a military airport, Edinburgh Airport opened to commercial aviation in 1977. It is now Scotland's second largest airport after Glasgow. Edinburgh's new control tower took 15 months to complete and opened in 2005. It stands 57 meters (187 feet) high, which equals 12 double-decker buses stacked on top of one another. The exterior's crisscrossed, double-helix pattern is not just for aesthetics. It also functions as a system of drainage channels. The 9,216 zinc tiles were hand-installed and have aged naturally in the outside environment, reducing the need for maintenance.
The photograph is a part of Art of the Airport Tower, an exhibition that explores contemporary and historical air traffic control towers in the U.S. and around the world.
"Art of the Airport Tower" explores contemporary and historic air traffic control towers in the United States and around the world. The exhibition will be open from November 11, 2016 through November 2016 in the Museum in Washington, DC.
"Art of the Airport Tower" explores contemporary and historic air traffic control towers in the United States and around the world. The exhibition will be open from November 11, 2016 through November 2016 in the Museum in Washington, DC.
"Art of the Airport Tower" explores contemporary and historic air traffic control towers in the United States and around the world. The exhibition will be open from November 11, 2016 through November 2016 in the Museum in Washington, DC.
Dubai International, United Arab Emirates (DXB/OMDB)
Dubai's airport began with a terminal, fire station, and single runway of compacted sand. It has steadily grown to emerge as one of the world's major airports. It now has two CAT III B instrument landing systems for low visibility conditions and runways large enough to handle the Airbus A380, the world's largest airliner. The 87-meter (285-foot) air traffic control tower, with its buttressed center column and arched wings, resembles a futuristic avian sculpture. A multilevel control center crowns the tower, with Dubai Air Navigation Services operating from its perch.
The photograph is a part of Art of the Airport Tower, an exhibition that explores contemporary and historical air traffic control towers in the U.S. and around the world.
United Arab Emirates (AUH/OMAA)
This is the only tower in the world that takes the form of a crescent. At 109 meters (358 feet) tall, it stands between parallel runways. The crescent design stems from the area's maritime heritage. It represents the sail of a dhow boat, a cultural icon and welcoming symbol to visitors. Abu Dhabi International Airport opened in 1968 on an island just off the Arabian Peninsula. A new airport opened on the mainland in 1982. Some 126 million passengers have traversed its halls.
The photograph is a part of Art of the Airport Tower, an exhibition that explores contemporary and historical air traffic control towers in the U.S. and around the world.
Barcelona El-Prat Airport, Spain
The photograph is a part of Art of the Airport Tower, an exhibition that explores contemporary and historical air traffic control towers in the U.S. and around the world.
Barcelona El-Prat Airport, Spain 1965
Barcelona's first airport, an airfield at El Remolar, opened in 1916. It relocated in 1918 to El-Prat. Initially used by the Aeroclub of Catalonia, it also became the base for the Spanish navy's fleet of airships. Barcelona El-Prat began commercial air service in 1927 and is now the second largest airport in Spain, after Madrid. It has undergone several transformations over the years. Two of its three towers are no longer in service. Designed by Eduardo Aguirre, this one from 1965 stands 15 meters (50 feet) tall.
The photograph is a part of Art of the Airport Tower, an exhibition that explores contemporary and historical air traffic control towers in the U.S. and around the world.
Abu Dhabi International Airport, United Arab Emirates (AUH/OMAA)
Designed by the French architecture firm ADPI, this tower was completed in 2011 after only 629 days of work. At the peak of construction, 1,200 workers were on site 24 hours a day. More than 70 kilometers (44 miles) of cabling run up the central column, sandwiched between high-speed elevators that ascend to the 20th story in 55 seconds. The east and west facades are covered by ethylene tetrafluoroethylene panels, a transparent polymer material. They allow for interior sunlight during the day and provide a glowing effect at night.
The photograph is a part of Art of the Airport Tower, an exhibition that explores contemporary and historical air traffic control towers in the U.S. and around the world.
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Virginia, United States (DCA/KDCA)
President Franklin Roosevelt in 1938 chose Gravelly Point on the Potomac River as the site of a new airport for the nation's capital. Washington National Airport opened in June 1941. In 1997 a new tower was built in a post-modernist style. Designed by César Pelli and Associates, it stands 61 meters (201 feet) tall. It originally had a white dome on top that housed ground-radar equipment. However, buildings in nearby Crystal City, Virginia, caused a radar echo, or "ghost," so the dome was moved to a ground location on the airfield. Congress renamed DCA Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in 1998.
The photograph is a part of Art of the Airport Tower, an exhibition that explores contemporary and historical air traffic control towers in the U.S. and around the world.