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A Symphony of Light and Color Greets LAX Travelers
-- A Bold Gateway for the City of Los Angeles is Created with a Ring of Pylons that
Dramatically Improves Aesthetics and Usability for Airport and Surrounding Businesses --
Contact:
Maura K. Schafer
Garvey Communications
310.545.8237
Los Angeles -- October 16, 2000 -- Visible to airline passengers at 30,000 feet, the
colorful ring of 100-foot tall pylons of the Los Angeles World Airports LAX Gateway
Enhancement Project provides a landmark entry experience into the United States, Los
Angeles and LAX. This new icon for the City of Los Angeles is part of the new identity
and environmental communications system designed to beautify the airport and facilitate
arrival and departure for LAX travelers.
At Century Boulevard, the gateway begins by evoking the feeling of takeoff and
landing with equally spaced columns that steadily increase in height along a 1.5-mile
roadway median, culminating in a ring of 15 dramatically lit 100-foot tall circular
pylons. At the entrance to the airport, 32-foot-high "L-A-X" letter forms greet visitors. "The
monument is meant to appeal to a multicultural audience that includes the residents of
Los Angeles and the travelers who enter and depart from the city each day. Inspired by
the unique culture, energy, diversity, vision, and excitement of the Los Angeles area,
the work transforms a public facility into an internationally recognizable landmark of
which Los Angeles can be proud," said Clifford Selbert, Principal of Selbert Perkins
Design Collaborative.
"The project is the world's largest permanent lighting installation and the nighttime
personality of the gateway dramatically changes from its daytime appearance through
the use of computerized lighting effects. Using the colors of the rainbow, this monument
for the new millennium symbolizes at once the unity and diversity that is the beauty of
the City of Los Angeles," said Robin Perkins, Principal of Selbert Perkins Design
Collaborative.
"Our original concept was to create a color and light symphony at night that would link
to the changing color of the theme restaurant in the center of the airport, unifying the
entire environment," added Perkins.
