FLIGHT RIDE FOUR
A Public Art Transit Shelter
Lowry Redevelopment Project
Aurora, Colorado
Built on land reclaimed from a former Air Force Base, Lowry is one of the success stories of recently repurposed military real estate. The Base was an important technical facility during the Second World War and the Cold War. It was also recognized as the “Western White House”, serving as President Dwight D. Eisenhower's summer home from 1952 – 1955.
The Lowry Foundation, in conjunction with Denver’s Regional Transportation District, commissioned “Flight Ride Four” for the southern entrance into the Lowry Community. This gateway piece serves as a bus shelter on Alameda Boulevard, a major Denver arterial. The sculpture was designed to pay homage to the former life of the site and the activities of the Air Force Base. The piece takes its cues from the rhythms and forms associated with the Air Force Base, utilizing shapes from aviation to recall the activities and character of the site’s history. The 32-foot tall mast is internally lit by banks of LED lights, acting as a nighttime beacon for this entrance into the Lowry Community. Special translucent fiberglass gels were developed for the skin of this mast, and fiberglass was also used to skin the complex shapes of the sculpture’s open wing and canopy. The remainder of the mast, bench and windscreen are made of stainless steel. An internal steel substructure supports all of these elements, which are anchored to a concrete pad and foundations. The concrete pad, a waiting platform for the local and regional buses on Alameda Boulevard, is scored with the configuration of the runways of the former Air Force Base.
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