The first of Gordon’s seven structurally significant installations at the Salt Lake City International Airport has recently completed installation!

Inspired by the waterfalls dispersed among Utah’s canyon landscape, “The Falls” is a 65-foot-tall suspended sculpture comprised of roughly 300 dichroic glass panels and 220 hand drawn glass and Pyrex rods. The sculpture cascades down the escalator well at the entrance to the new main terminal and makes use of the natural light this location receives from the terminal’s glass facade, casting an array of ever-changing colors and patterns on adjacent surfaces.

The installation took two men two weeks and a custom designed movable platform, referred to as the “donut”, to attach the glass panels and rods to the cables using specially-designed glass clamps.

The entire suspended sculpture weighs a staggering 5,000 pounds and is attached to the terminal ceiling with spring boots to help retain tension on the cables during the winter months when the roof can bend under the weight of up to four feet of snow.