Stunning Specimens from the Underappreciated World of Airport Carpet Design

March 26, 2011 • 6:00 am PDT
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In this month's issue of the always enjoyable British design magazine Icon, George Pendle considers the airport carpet:

As the world's largest interior visual design medium, airport carpets have spread a multi-faceted but uniform aesthetic to the furthest reaches of the globe. In their geometric precision, sensitivity to colour, and ability to absorb and hide stains, airport carpets are aesthetically unique. These aren't carpets but canvases upon which we walk.

The carpet above is from Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Arizona (PHX). The whorls of the design apparently allude to the frequent wind vortices that make PHX one of more dangerous airports in the world (Pendle notes that 60 aircraft have been lost since the airport opened in 1935).

Nicola Twilley
Author of Edible Geography; former Food Editor

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Photo credits: (1) Kevin Miyazaki; (2) George Pendle; (3) Dominic Elliot; (4) George Pendle. All photos via Icon.

Posted in: Design

Tags: design,; travel,; icon,; airport,; carpets,; george pendle

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