The Museum of Flying hosts first exhibition on airport architecture

from  worldinteriordesignnetwork.com

Published: 22-Aug-2013

The Museum of Flying in Santa Monica, California, is hosting the first-ever museum exhibition of airport architecture titled,’ Now Boarding: Fentress Airports + The Architecture of Flight,’ designed by Fentress Architects.

Created by acclaimed architectural curator Donald Albrecht, the exhibition, which opened to the public on 3 April is in Santa Monica till 25 August 2013, before it travels to other international venues.

The exhibition takes visitors on a multi-media journey through the past, present, and future of airport architecture, aided by film, digital art, animation, drawings, photographs, and rarely seen architectural models.

It has three distinct themes: The history of airport design; an up-close exploration of international airport projects designed by Curtis Fentress; and the future of airport design as imagined by experts.

Now Boarding also has an entire section dedicated to LAX and the $1.9bn expansion of the Tom Bradley International Terminal, featuring a 24ft scale model.

The exhibition focuses on the designs by Fentress Architects, which have designed some of the world's most celebrated airports, such as LAX where the new international terminal's wave-like shape evokes the beach lifestyle of Los Angeles. Other notable Fentress designs include Incheon International Airport in South Korea and Denver International Airport.

Now Boarding: Fentress Airports + The Architecture of Flight was developed by Albrecht, in collaboration with the Denver Art Museum.

The museum exhibition initially debuted in Denver and Amsterdam. After Los Angeles, it will travel to Shanghai, China, and Washington, DC., and will continue to tour internationally through 2015.

This international museum exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue, also called Now Boarding: Fentress Airports + The Architecture of Flight, featuring essays by Christoph Heinrich, Donald Albrecht, Peter Christensen, Gillian Fuller, Tibbie Dunbar, and Curtis Fentress.

Exhibition support is provided by Hensel Phelps Construction Co., Airport Council International, Martin/Martin, Inc., Vectra Bank Colorado, U.S. Bank, Earth Asia Design Group, MJAD Advertising + Design, John A. Martin & Associates, Colorado Business Bank, Peliton Group Holdings LLC, Fuller | Sothebey's International Realty, Selbert Perkins Design Collaborative, VSA & Associates, TTG Corp, BASE Architecture, and URS

City Hall unveils new flight tracking at SMO

from smdp.com

By Ameera Butt on August 19, 2013 in News

SMO— A new online system that allows public access to flight track data at Santa Monica Airport went into effect Friday and is expected to save City Hall thousands of dollars  over the next few years, city officials said.

There would be a savings of $10,000 each year, with approximately $20,000 during the two-year contract with the new online system, PublicVue, from Exelis, Inc., Martin Pastucha, director of Public Works for City Hall, said.

PublicVue, the new flight tracking and noise complaint system, replaces Webtrak, that was offered by company Brüel & Kjær, and whose contract expires this month. Pastucha said City Hall had been using Webtrak since 2010.

The new system allows the public to view the aircraft’s type, altitude, origin and destination airports, and flight identification, and watch the movements of flights out of Santa Monica Airport and nearby.

With Webtrak, Pastucha said there used to be a map and now there is  a digital image superimposed and one can see the aircraft flying over.

Both programs use the same level of “detail,” Pastucha said.

“It continues to provide the community the data they’ve been used to getting and provide that continuity they want,” Pastucha said. “It’s the same data there, it’s just how it’s presented, a map versus using an aerial photo display.”

The agreement costs $14,000 for flight track data alone, for a total cost of $37,321 for 2013-14, city documents show. The total agreement cost is $143,103 with two one-year options to renew, according to a city staff report.

In June, the City Council voted to modify the agreement with Exelis to provide maintenance and support services for the Santa Monica Airport’s noise and operations monitoring system (NOMS); purchase of flight track data; and to provide public access to flight track data through June 30, 2015. NOMS monitors noise levels of arriving and departing aircraft to ensure compliance with the Noise Code.

Because the Federal Aviation Administration changed a policy regarding the release of flight track data recently, city officials decided to modify a contract with Exelis to provide data through the online public access flight track display system, PublicVue, and to continue providing maintenance and support of the noise and operations monitoring system.

Pastucha said Exelis is the only FAA-approved third party that can provide reliable and accurate flight track data to the airport.

Martin Rubin, director of Concerned Residents Against Airport Pollution, said it’s too early to tell how the new system will perform. CRAAP is a coalition of Westsiders fighting to shut down Santa Monica Airport or at least dramatically cut back on the number of flights there.

Rubin said he was getting comfortable with WebTrak and the new system appears to be just as adequate.

“Not everything is exact and you don’t get all the information you’d like to get from either, but it is a useful tool,” Rubin said. “I anticipate this one will be honed in to be as good, if not better, than WebTrak.”

The technology for PublicVue is “superior,” but the interface still needs some work to reach the same level of polish that WebTrak had, John Fairweather, founder of Community Against Santa Monica Airport Traffic, or CASMAT, said. Fairweather said the number of map choices, like a satellite overlay or roadmap, are improvements.

“I think [for] people it may take a while to get used to it, but they will be able to do everything they’re used to being able to do,” Fairweather said. “I think the level of integration for noise reporting in public view is deeper than it was with WebTrak.”

ameera@smdp.com

- See more at: http://smdp.com/city-hall-unveils-new-flight-tracking-at-smo/126060#sthash.5YSpEX3d.dpuf

Santa Monica Museum Of Flying To Conclude Its "Now Boarding" Exhibition Sunday

from smmirror.com

POSTED AUG. 19, 2013, 9:22 AM

MITCH JAMES / MIRROR CONTRIBUTOR

Santa Monica's Museum of Flying will conclude its first-ever museum exhibition of airport architecture, Now Boarding: Fentress Airports + The Architecture of Flight this Sunday, Aug. 25.

The exhibition, which opened to the public on April 3, will be moving on to other international venues.

COURTESY IMAGE

“Now Boarding: Fentress Airports The Architecture of Flight” is the first-ever, multi-media exhibition examining the changing state of airport architecture and design.

The museum exhibition takes visitors on a multi-media journey through the past, present, and future of airport architecture, focusing on the work of Curtis Fentress and Fentress Architects, the global architectural design firm he founded.

Now Boarding examines airport design with an entire section devoted to LAX and the much anticipated $1.9 billion expansion of the Tom Bradley International Terminal.

The exhibition was curated by acclaimed architectural curator Donald Albrecht, and exhibits a 24-foot scale model of the new terminal, in addition to animations, renderings, photographs, and other architectural elements.

As the architect and creative force behind some of the world's most celebrated airports, Curtis Fentress is known for designs that transform the air travel experience and embody local geography and culture.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the dramatic changes soon to be unveiled at LAX where the new international terminal’s wave-like shape evokes the beach lifestyle of Los Angeles.

Other notable Fentress designs include Incheon International Airport in South Korea and Denver International Airport.

For more information, visit nowboarding.org.