GATEWAY LAX ENHANCEMENTS PYLON DESIGN CONCEPT

Visible to airline passengers at 3,000 feet, the colorful ring of 100-foot-tall pylons of the Los Angeles World Airports Gateway LAX Enhancement Project provides a landmark entry experience into the United States, Los Angeles, and LAX. This new icon for the City of Los Angeles is part of the new identity and environmental system designed to enhance the airport area and to facilitate arrival and departure for LAX travelers.

At Century Boulevard, the gateway begins by evoking the feeling of takeoff and landing with equally spaced columns that steadily increase in height along a 1.5-mile roadway median, culminating in a ring of 15 dramatically lit 100-foot tale pylons in a circle. The monument is meant to appeal to a multicultural audience that includes the residents of Los Angeles and the travelers who enter and depart from the city each day. Inspired by the unique culture, energy, diversity, vision, and excitement of the Los Angeles area, the work transforms a public facility into an internationally recognizable landmark of which Los Angeles can be proud. At the entrance to the airport, 32-foot-high "L-A-X" letter forms greet visitors.

The project is the world's largest permanent lighting installation and the nighttime personality of the gateway dramatically changes from its daytime appearance through the use of computerized lighting effects. Using the colors of the rainbow, this monument for the new millennium symbolizes at once the unity and diversity that is the beauty of the City of Los Angeles.