Brooke Fry
The blazing ember eyes of the massive sculpture, “Blue Mustang,” pierce through the roofs of frantic cars like laser beams as they navigate their way down Peña Boulevard, only to be spit out in several directions of winding roads and into the unknown underworld of the Denver International Airport. Enraptured by the unique structures of the DIA — the brazen stallion, the mountain peaks, the sea creatures tail — I attempted to look at them as though it was the first time I had laid eyes on them, as if I was not a Colorado citizen of over 15 years.
Seeming to replicate an old Western movie, the Denver International Airport finds itself on the dusty outskirts of town. Ironically, the airport is not in Denver, or at least not what the native would call Denver, as it is about 23 miles away from the heart of the city.
According to Denver International Airport’s aviation manager, Kim Day, the DIA’s location — in all its tumbleweed remoteness — is in the perfect spot, and she goes even further to call it’s distant settlement a “luxury.” And although she’s certainly spicing up the stew, I was slightly swayed in learning that it is “better positioned for long-term success than almost any airport in the country;” giving Colorado’s biggest airport the opportunity to become “a mega-global hub.”
As you make your trek accross the open plains to the soon-to-be “mega hub,” you’ll see the airport’s roof; a replication of the Rocky Mountains’ “snow-capped peaks, the rugged covered wagons of pioneer settlers, and Native American teepees,” or perhaps if you’re like me, you’ll just see an interesting canopy of white fabric that looks like a life-sized, kid-constructed bedroom-sheet fort. However, I have to applaud the designer, Curtis Fentress, as he “worked tirelessly to design an innovative solution for Denver’s passenger terminal that was more affordable, faster to build, and most notably, an iconic design,” that “saved the airport thousands of tons of steel, USD$115 million in budget, and reduced the construction schedule by nine months.” Though these “Rockies” wouldn’t be inspiring enough for me to write our country’s national anthem, they are amusing to ponder half-asleep on my morning ride to the airport.
Let us pretend that we were in fact in the tender embrace of the purple mountains majesty, we’d want the transportation services of a wild stallion to explore the territory. “Blue Mustang”, “Blucifer”, “Satan’s Steed”, “Blue Stallion of Death,” or whatever you prefer to call the 32-foot, 9,000 pound, electric blue, anatomically correct fiberglass sculpture of a rearing horse in the badlands outside the DIA, is just the wild beauty we need.
Unfortunately the wild cannot always be tamed. According to NBC news, the artist of this striking work, Luis Jimenez, was killed by his own creation when “a piece of the sculpture fell on his leg and severed an artery.” I can’t help but think how perhaps this is the ultimate death an artist would want to die, to be martyred by is own art — a potentially beautiful sentiment I think.
When taking visiting friends and distant family members to and fro the DIA, I’m always sure to tell them the story of the sapphire stallion, not with fear or trepidation, but rather with some twisted sense of reverence and awe. When you surpass this commemorative figure, you are on your way to the great beyond (or perhaps just catching your flight to a work conference in Chicago).
If you’re starting to wonder whether the DIA has some sort of point to prove when it comes to seemingly peculiar attractions, its newest construction only adds to this decorative list. Since the airport is in the obscure, fringes of “Denver,” it provided entrepreneurs with the perfect opportunity to prowl — to construct a grand edifice to host overnighters — seeing as they will have no other choice if their flight is canceled, delayed, and no other hotels are within a near proximity. Not only did they attach a luxurious hotel smack dab on the tail end of the airport, but the hotel itself literally looks like the tail of an aquatic creature — a whale or dolphin tail according to my vision (a mustache is also a feasible perception). The futuristic entrance of the Westin at DIA, seems to swallow you up as surely as Jonah — and if that doesn’t, the prices might. Depending on how much you’re willing to extend your vacation, the price rate ranges from $251 to $1,219 per night.
The Westin of Denver International Airport was able to seize the day in a record-breaking snowstorm this December. On the day of the storm the Westin started with 40 percent occupancy, and by the time it was afternoon, the $600 million hotel and transit project was completely booked, forcing stranded travelers to snatch up the leftovers at a “rate of a room a minute.” It would appear as though the hotel’s project was a smart business decision, as well as another work of notable architecture that one can marvel at, at the Denver International Airport.
Though the outside from far away is as overwhelming as Disney World, the inside of the DIA will leave you just perplexed. Even the 32-foot Blue would feel like an ant under the T.P. tent. Overall, customer reviews tend to agree that the place is gigantic, bright and airy, as well as it provides a plentiful array of places to eat, and interesting artwork to help the time pass.
Though the Denver International Airport is a little quirky and screwy in its own ways, as I’ve lived to see (and will continue to see), the many projects never cease to add to its odd charm, to which I can’t help but develop an attachment, and furthermore a sense of pride, equally for all its magnificent attributes, and its imperfect qualities.