Charlotte International Airport

My two designs are songs. Visual songs. Musical maps for the heart.

These two artistic terrazzo floors extend a warm welcoming gesture to each visitor to Charlotte Douglas International Airport — interweaving themes of music, flight, regional flora and fauna, and a sense of joy, wonder, and whimsy. The floors are organized thematically along the bilateral layout of the two terminal tunnels and relate geographically to the earth’s diurnal cycle and sidereal time: day and night.

I call them Carolina in the Morning and Carolina Moon.

I was inspired by the idea of a journey — both the journey itself, and coming home. These designs connect the traveler as they move from airside or terminal through views of the North Carolina landscape, using that movement from interior to exterior as metaphor: a feeling of flight, dreams, time, and distance.

The musical roots of North Carolina are remarkable — from the Piedmont finger-style tradition of blues guitar to the giants of jazz, including Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and Dizzy Gillespie. Music has always been understood to elevate the human spirit: how a single tune can recall home, how only a few bars can empower you to continue onward. These designs seek to make those connections visible.

Carolina in the Morning (East Location)

Inspired by the song standard “Carolina in the Morning,” with words by Gus Kahn and music by Walter Donaldson from 1922 (used by kind permission from Kirby Shaw, copyright holder). A snippet of the lyrics is caught up in a whirlwind of time — between the echo of the shadow of the Wright Brothers’ plane, and the smell of honeysuckle and jasmine — lush, verdant, lyrical. The floor contains some of the actual lyrics and musical notes, while suggesting other lyrical flights through a series of flowers, a bluebird, and a kayak from a North Carolina kayak maker. The form of the eddies suggests to me the shape of a pick guard on an acoustic guitar.

This design is meant to glow with the richness of the region’s history — to celebrate the cultures and lush flora of North Carolina through bright color and repeating shapes. It is meant to remind you of a bright, sunny morning. I can imagine children following the spirals, spinning around and back out again in a kind of joyous terrazzo hopscotch.

Carolina Moon (West Location)

Inspired by the song standard “Carolina Moon,” written by Benny Davis and Joe Burke in 1924. The composition is set at night. A large red moon radiates from the center. A luna moth and a yellow newt give the scene a more dream-like feel. The hands of an analog clock tracking the lunar cycle are a playful reminder of time past — and a suggestion that one’s movements are connected to something much larger than the rush you might feel at this moment to make your next flight. The rhythmic flow of forms references any of the 23 river basins of North Carolina, or a good-old swimming hole. A slide trombone suggests the sounds of a traditional Charlotte shout band. The deep blues, magentas, and black epoxy are a rich backdrop, sprinkled with mirror, silver-coated aggregates, mother-of-pearl shell, and glass — glimmering like a field of stars in the night sky.