Airport Ceilings, Vol. 2

Orlando International Airport.  The architects who designed "Mission to Mars" at Disneyworld were offering a package deal that month.

Chicago O'Hare, Terminal 1.  A helpful reminder as you're scurrying to catch your connection that one day you too will be extinct, and if you're lucky your fossilized remains may be put on display on the way to the frequent flyer lounge.

Helsinki Airport, one of many modern airports whose ceiling looks like it was made out of GeoMag, which doesn't exactly soothe any pre-flight jitters.  Speaking of, the GeoMag advertising slogan is "It's all about invisible forces," which is pretty great if you ask me.

SFO.  I caught some heat the last time I tried to say something about San Francisco on this website, but I think I can atone here.  This is a first-class airport ceiling: complex but not busy, open but not too bright, evoking the sky but also a sailboat's rigging.  You might be so busy appreciating the overall kind vibe that you might not even notice the fabulous rainbow stained glass arcs which grace the edge of the window panels.

Madrid Barajas Airport, which for some reason reminds me of a bowling alley, with the wooden slats and the NASA-inspired center console-looking thing.  Don't get me wrong, though, because both Madrid Barajas and Barcelona El Prat are extremely pleasant places to spend time.  

Shanghai Pudong International Airport, Terminal 2.  At first glance, this looks a bit like the mirror image of Madrid Barajas.  But, like Shanghai itself, pictures don't begin to capture the mind-bending enormity of the place, as the banners displaying the gate numbers multiply into the distance, and the ceiling sine-waves into infinity.  And of course there's Terminal 1 (not pictured here), almost as big, with a roof shaped like a seagull.  And of course there an entire other airport.

London Heathrow Terminal 5.  Perhaps the writers of those corny Hollywood scenarios had it right, and that when our time is up we will be called into the light, and as we slowly ascend and the light draws nearer, we will feel a deep, reassuring warmth, and the unfiltered joy of all that we have experienced and loved, and we will be enveloped by God's grace.  And then we will go through security and there will be a Wagamama and high-end duty-free.

Airport Ceilings, Vol. 1