Client: Salt Lake City International Airport

Location: Salt Lake City, UT, United States

Completion date: 2020

Artwork budget: $5,000,000

Project Team

Lead Artist

Gordon Huether

Gordon Huether + Partners, Inc.

Architect

HOK

HOK

Client

Salt Lake City International Airport

Contractor/Fabricator

FabriTec Structures, LLC

Fabricator

Rainier Industries

Overview

After witnessing the color variations and shadows of the canyons of Utah, Huether used this concept to recreate an indoor canyon in the Salt Lake City Airport, mimicking the shapes and striations of the rocks on the airport walls. The new terminal in the airport resembles the shape of a canyon in that it begins with a vast open space, pinches in the middle, and opens up again. To enhance the canyon-like architectural features of the new terminal, Huether incorporated artistic designs that would bring the beauty of Utah’s canyon landscape indoors.

Goals

Huether was brought into this project in early design development in order to have artwork architecturally integrated into the building. The main goal was to bring the outside in and grant a sense of place for visitors to the state of Utah and create an ambience reminiscent of the canyons of Utah.

Process

This project involved in-depth collaboration with airport executives, the architectural firm on the project - HOK, design teams, fabrication companies, etc. With such a large-scale project, many professionals came together to make such a big idea into a reality.

Additional Information

The Canyon is one of several very large-scale, structurally integrated artworks into the whole Salt Lake City Airport Redevelopment Program. A counterpart to this installation, Canyon 2.0, will be installed in the second phase of the project, into a concourse that is still under construction and is set to be complete in 2024.