Contextual Regionalism
In autumn 2012, I made a pilgrimage to Denver for an interview with the architect of the new Tom Bradley International Terminal, Curtis Fentress. By the way, Fentress’ first airport design was on his home turf: Denver International Airport (DEN). I had never been to Denver before, but I knew that its airport was supposed to be very special and unique. Denver is called the Mile High City, as it sits on a prairie plateau at roughly a mile high – 1.6km.
Constructed in 1995 by local architects Curtis Fentress and James Bradburn, the Jeppesen Terminal became iconic for its design rooted in contextual regionalism. Its tensile roof structure is an allusion to the snowy Rocky Mountain hilltops, or the teepees the Native Americans dwelled in.
Curt Fentress calls his sense of place design “contextual regionalism”, a refinement from and maybe a less academic approach to critical regionalism. Critical regionalism denominates the architectural movement to counter the placelessness (non-places, loss of the anthropological place) of the International Style, but is also critical of the gaudy ornamentation of postmodernism.
The idiom critical regionalism first came up in 1981 by architectural theorists Alexander Tzonis and Diane Lefaivre, and was picked up by fellow architect and theoretician Kenneth Frampton in his manifesto “Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six points for an architecture of resistance”. Therein, Frampton pretty much calls for a phenomenological approach to architecture, as does Juhani Pallasmaa – by means of topography, respect for the locality, regionally sourced materials and hapticity.
Thus, contextual regionalism became Fentress’ canon. To build in context with the region. It started with Denver Airport, can be discerned at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming and many more museums and airports (Incheon, LAX) by the company.
The unique roof structure defines DEN’s iconicity and aura. It is a brilliant concept, incepted by Curtis Fentress at the eleventh hour.
Upside Down
Way back in 1972, the booming city of Denver explored plans to expand the existing Stapleton Airport from 1929. In 1985, a vast site eighteen miles northeast of Denver was selected for the new greenfield airport (an airport built from scratch on a designated empty field or space). The design of the first architectural firm was deemed too expensive and Fentress Bradburn Architects saved the day with their revolutionary proposal: Curt Fentress turned the building upside down in flash of genius.
Upside down meaning, that the building’s mechanical system was transferred from the roof to the underground to set the stage for the unobstructed tensile roof. Not only did this enable cost and material savings, but it provided an airy and light effect throughout the terminal, allowing daylight to create a naturally diffused aura.
The material of the lightweight fabric roof consists of highly durable teflon.
German engineer Frei Otto (1925–2015) pioneered the tensile structures and cable-net buildings. His Olympiastadium in Munich, which was completed for the 1972 Olympic Games, serves as a prototype for tensile structures.
Curt Fentress and structural engineer Horst Berger were further inspired by the Hajj Terminal in Jeddah, on which the latter worked together with its architect Fazlur Khan (SOM, 1981), which shall be presented in the post on SOM.
Airport Art
Denver International Airport was the first airport created with an integrated art program, with 30 permanent art exhibits on display and varying exhibitions. In 1988, seven years before its completion, Mayor Federico Peña established the “… policies and procedures for the funding and implementation of a public art program for the City and County of Denver.” The purpose of this new Public Art Program was to “… expand the opportunities for Denver residents to experience art in public places, thereby creating more visually pleasing and human environments.
Denver International Airport’s Art and Culture Program administers the City and County of Denver’s one percent for art ordinance which enhances public places and features nearly 40 site-specific works including sculptures, murals and other installations. The pieces are displayed in outdoor landscapes, inside Jeppesen Terminal and on airport concourses, as well as in the train tunnels and on the train itself. In addition to its permanent art collection, the airport curates temporary exhibitions, collaborating with museums, cultural institutions, and arts organizations to present the highest quality two- and three-dimensional work.
The aim is to create a cultural experience that engages passengers and presents the cultural legacy of the region.
When arriving at Denver International Airport from the highway, one is greeted by a giant blue Mustang. It is the airport’s landmark sculpture. A 32-foot (9.75 m) tall fiberglass sculpture with the characteristics of the Mexican muralists, it bestows honor to the sense of place – the Southwestern prairies and their wild horses. It was conceptualized by artis Luis Jimenez back in 1993 for the newly established Denver Airport “public art program”, but was erected only in 2008 at the crossroads of Peña Boulevard at the entrance to the airport. To add to the (macabre) legend, Luis Jimenez died in 2006 in his studio in New Mexico where he was finishing work on Mustang and a large section fell off and struck him.
Sources:
DEN
Photograph courtesy of Denver International Airport
David A. Belcher, Luis Jimenez, New York Times, 15/06/2006.
Interviews with Curtis Fentress
Catalogue “Now Boarding: Fentress Airports and the Architecture of Flight”, 2012.
Kenneth Frampton, “Towards a Critical Regionalism. Six Points for an Architecture of Resistance.” In The Anti-Aesthetic. Essays on Postmodern Culture, by Hal Foster, 1983.
Scott MacCartney, Airports for Art Lovers, The Wall Street Journal, 2016.
