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James Carpenter

"Luminous Portals"

Integrated Art - Installation w/multiple components

10' x 21' x 16'  (each portal)

2005

Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Rental Car Facility

This integrated artwork by James Carpenter of the six entry portals for the new RCC (Rental Car Center) at the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport, combines the use of computerized and interactive LED lighting with various glass finishes to create an animated interaction between the portals and moving passengers. As luminous markers along the roadway, the Portals transform into a visual connection between RCC and the main airport terminals.
 

"Luminous Portals is an array of six light filled entries that announce one's arrival on the north façade of the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood International Airport Car Rental Facility. The portals are interstitial spaces that bridge the busy exterior of traffic and the active interior of the car rental companies. Each portal penetrates the curtain wall as a monolithic aluminum volume with a crystalline glass interior that is illuminated from within. The volumes are animated as people approach and walk through the portals. There is a direct dialog between the user's movement and the transformation of the sculpture. The operable doors activate the LED (Light Emitting Diode) lighting sensors which change in color with the relationship of the door position. As the doors open, the programmed light fixtures within the volumes and along the exterior glass walls shift in a series of vibrant colors marking the passage of travel through the portals. The portals become luminous markers along the roadway as well as visual connections to the arrival areas of the main airport terminal. The experience of the Luminous Portals reaches the scale of the individual walking through, the vehicles passing by and those waiting across the way at the terminal."

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