PROPOSAL FOR T.F. GREEN AIRPORT
Warwick, Rhode Island 1998
Historically the prominence of coastal cities such as Providence and Newport was linked to their role as seaports, once the major venue of travel and commerce. Both recent and proposed expansions of T.F. Green Airport demonstrate the current importance of airports which have become the seaports of our time. However, since airports they can exist almost anywhere, they frequently lack both character and site specificity. An airport in the United States is normally no different from one in Europe or Asia. In his book Naked Airport, Alastair Gordon notes how airports by the late 20th century had become simulacras of the cities they serve. Equipped with their own malls, restaurants and conference rooms, it is no longer necessary to actually visit the city of one's flight destination. This highlights the need for a sense of place or what Gordon calls "a sense of arrival" in an otherwise generic location.
A New Role for an Old Beacon
Along with fourteen currently operating lighthouses, Rhode Island also has many defunct, abandoned lights. Most are smaller, prefab metal structures known as "spark plugs" ranging from 50-65 feet in height. One of these defunct structures could be removed from its base, craned onto a barge and towed through Narragansett Bay to T.F. Green Airport.
Once restored and relocated, the interior of the lighthouse would become a video installation. The radar screen in the airport control tower displays the familiar glowing green radius from the circular sweep of the radar. This orbital image would be projected onto the circular ceiling of the lighthouse interior. Viewers would look up at a "virtual" sky as seen by the radar with its green glowing sweep resembling the external panning light which once guided ships at sea. A defunct maritime beacon would be given a technological upgrade appropriate to its new location, while inviting viewers to reflect upon the history of navigation and travel.
