Central Terminal

The main feature of the new Central Terminal is a grand civic space. The Pacific Marketplace is a city streetscape, a scene of the Northwest community complete with shops, restaurants, landscaping, a view to the airfield, and public art. The gathering place, designed by Fentress Bradburn Architects, encompasses 60,000 square feet with a 60-foot tall ceiling and a west-facing structural glass curtain wall. During the day, the large expanse of glass floods the space with sparkle and light; at night, the glowing room becomes a beacon. This interior space feels like an outdoor room.

In October 2000, the artist team of Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter was selected to create a significant artwork for the space.

The centerpiece of art in the Pacific Marketplace, Landing, is made up of 2800 individual sculptures arrayed in such a way that they form the image of a snow goose landing on a calm lake.

Ralph Helmick and Stuart Schechter have individually and collectively completed twelve major public commissions, including major sculptures for the newly renovated Midway Airport in Chicago, the new international terminal at Philadelphia Airport and the Melvin Price Federal Courthouse in St. Louis, IL to name a few. Their collaborative work began in 1994 with the creation of Ghostwriter, for the Evanston, IL Public Library, and their interest centers on this type of artwork. The pieces are comprised of thousands of precisely suspended cast metal elements and employ a sort of three-dimensional Pointillism wherein numerous small component sculptures coalesce into large composite forms.