James Turrell: Air Apparent

The placement of James Turrell's Skyspace: Air Apparent on the ASU Tempe campus near "three of the most sophisticated science facilities on Earth" was not an accident. Faculty and research staff in Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building 4 (ISTB4) are renowned for designing instruments to enable scientific exploration of other worlds. As with all Turrell's investigations into light and perception, his ASU Skyspace is unique in its architectural manifestation, rootedness to place, and nuance of materiality, detail and character. It is intended to balance the poetry of his ideas with the pragmatic concerns of climate, comfort, 24/7 public access, personal safety, and universal accessibility. Visitors approach the space along a path that leads through a desert garden, before entering a roofless square open structure. Air Apparent was designed by Turrell in collaboration with Tempe-based architect Will Bruder, and evokes the construction of buildings by the Hohokam, an indigenous people who occupied the region from around the year 300 to 1500, known for building complex irrigation systems as well as pithouses, low structures built atop excavated earth. Air Apparent is open to the public 24/7, along with the adjacent Diane and Bruce Halle Skyspace Garden. It's most dramatic at sunrise, sunset, or after dark, when the illuminated frame changes color.