Five Photographs That Reveal the Beauty of Airport Towers

With this project, the airport tower became symbolic to me. I viewed each tower as both an essential aviation artifact and a vessel with a powerful presence— watching over the vastness of the airport and sky; a non-judgmental cultural greeter; a choreographer or conductor; a mother bird caring for her flock; an omniscient, intelligent structure keeping humans safe. In the presence of the tower, I sensed the complex orchestration of humans. Through my dealings with the air traffic control community, I felt the interconnectedness of this highly specialized job: Air traffic controllers share common ground regardless of culture. And I felt in some small way that this project brought the controllers a little bit closer to each other regardless of their location on the planet.

Through these images I hope to bring a heightened awareness to the simple beauty of these structures and a call for the preservation of historical towers, knowing that one day they may vanish from the airport landscape.

1. LaGuardia Airport New York, United States

LaGuardia’s Art Deco Marine Air terminal is one of the oldest terminals in the United States. Designed by William Delano under the New Deal Work Projects Administration (WPA), it was opened in March 1940 and has the largest WPA mural ever made, entitled “Flight” by James Brooks. In 1952, the mural was painted over by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In the 1950s, the terminal was closed to airline traffic, only to be renovated and reopened in 1966.

While the airport’s historic terminal was renovated, the same cannot be said for its 1964 control tower. The airport tower was designed by Wallace K. Harrison, famous for his 1939 World’s Fair sculptures, Rockefeller Center, Lincoln Center, and the United Nations headquarters building. At the time of its opening, The New York Times referred to his whimsical tower as “a design for a giant ice cream cone.” Harrison was ahead of his time on an artistic scale, and it was not until the 1970s that the curves of his tower would be placed in the company of other abstract modern artists such as Alexander Calder and Fernand Léger. Despite Harrison’s reputation, however, the control tower was not preserved with the erection of the newer tower.

Beginning operations in October 2010, the airport’s new tower is 82 feet higher than the old one, perching controllers 233 feet above the ground. The original 150-foot tower was not demolished completely; the upper section was removed because it obstructed the new tower’s view.

2. Bilbao Airport, Spain

Barcelona’s airport history began in 1916 as an airfield at El Remolar, which was moved in 1918 to El-Prat. The airport was initially used by the Aeroclub of Catalonia and was 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.

The airport has undergone several transformations over the years. Two of the airport’s three towers, one built in 1965 designed by Eduardo Aguirre and another inaugurated in 1995, which was designed by Ricardo Bofill, are no longer in service. The most recent tower was inaugurated in 2006 and reaches 203.4 feet into the sky. Designed by Fairbanks Arquitectos, the concept for the tower is a hyperboloid superstructure made from precast concrete girders that support the upper floors and control room.

The tower consists of three main sections. The top two floors, considered the “superior” floors, contain the cab and equipment, rest and simulation rooms, and two sleeping areas. The middle portion consists of the shaft and “mesh” design. The concrete mesh supports the superior floors and simultaneously doubles as a design feature. The “inferior” floor on the ground level is two stories high and houses a cafeteria, security rooms, and equipment support spaces. The Barcelona El-Prat airport has won many awards as a favorite in southern Europe.

3. Edinburgh Airport Scotland, United Kingdom

Edinburgh Airport, originally a military airport, was opened to commercial aviation in 1977. It is now Scotland’s second largest airport after Glasgow with about 120,000 aircraft movements per year.

Taking 15 months to complete and opening in 2005, Edinburgh’s new control tower stands 187 feet high, which equals 12 double-decker buses stacked on top one another. Four months were spent simply getting the tower to its full height. 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 base and shaft are combined to make a single hourglass-shaped building. The tower is operated by the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) with controllers, management staff, engineers, air traffic assistants, and an administrative officer. One of the challenges for both the controllers and pilots is the weather. Fog from the nearby River Forth often requires low-visibility operations.

The airport tower is also used for charitable appeals. The airport supported the Scottish Poppy Appeal, which raises funds and awareness for veterans past and present as well as their families. Leading up to Remembrance Day on November 11th, the control tower glowed red every evening from dusk to dawn.
 

4. Stockholm-Arlanda Airport, Sweden

The Stockholm-Arlanda Airport control tower is probably one of the first to double as a wedding location where couples can pay for a marriage ceremony (in an area not used for air traffi c control) topped off by dizzying views, champagne, chocolate and strawberries, plus VIP airport services for honeymoon travel.

The 272.3-foot control tower was completed in 2001 and designed by architect Gert Wingårdh of the Wingårdh architectural firm in Gothenburg, Sweden. Wingårdh’s design won the European Award for Excellence in Concrete in 2002. The tower was built with vibration-free concrete and equipped with 164 feet of steel cables running from the bedrock into the tower, preventing it from swaying in high winds. There are two control cabs, and the exterior design of the offi ce area on the ground level was inspired by an aircraft’s wing.

The pairing of both technical and human function is expressed in the dichotomy of color and form, with two lookout points perched like birds atop the coupled shaft. The birds symbolize Hugin and Minun, two ravens from Nordic mythology who were sent out to watch over the world. The Finnish artist Silja Rantanen added 2,500 superimposed words on the black and white bands from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic 1929 aviation book Southern Mail. The words celebrate the courage of the early airmail pilots, who fl ew at the limits of safety to gain commercial advantage over rail and steamship mail delivery. The graphic clarity of the tower is reminiscent of Swedish 1950s design.
 

5. Dubai International, United Arab Emirates

Dubai’s aviation history began in 1937 with the establishment of a fl ying boat base for Imperial Airways. A little over 20 years later, the city opened Dubai International, which consisted of a terminal, fire station, apron, and single runway made from compacted sand. The airport now has two CAT III B instrument landing systems for low visibility conditions and runways large enough to handle the A380. Dubai International has steadily grown to emerge as one of the world’s major airports.

It is also home to one of the largest buildings in the world in terms of floor space. Terminal 3 opened in 2008 with 18,438,578 square feet and was originally for the use of Emirates Airlines, and more recently Australia’s Qantas Airlines. Designed by French architect Paul Andreu, the expansion project won accolades from the aviation industry worldwide.

The air traffic control tower, which is 285.4 feet tall, resembles a futuristic avian sculpture with its buttressed center column and arched wings. It is crowned with a multi-level control center with Dubai Air Navigation Services operating from its perch.

In February 2014, Dubai International unveiled the world’s largest cancer awareness ribbon on an air traffic control tower as part of a major campaign under the theme “Early Detection Saves Lives!”

The massive ribbon, made in 24 colors to represent all types of cancer, measured 128 by 60 feet. In December 2014, Dubai International Airport also set a record for the world’s busiest airport for that year.

Read more in Art of the Airport Tower, which is available from Smithsonian Books. Visit Smithsonian Books’ website to learn more about its publications and a full list of titles. 

Excerpt from Art of the Airport Tower © 2015 by Smithsonian Institution