Ever since I can remember I have loved traveling, especially by plane. To me it’s fascinating that I can be in another country in just a couple of hours. It’s amazing to see such a diverse group of people from all over the world gathered at once in an airport, a piece of architecture intuitive of its surroundings that tells you a lot about where you are.

I just returned from Miami, and it was incredible how they designed their airport. A terrazzo floor, black with sand speckles bleeding into the edge, and a bronze fossil like inset of marine life throughout the center. In Mexico City, the entire ceiling structure of the airport was a soaring vaulted roof, very simple, with the influence of decorative concrete screen blocks used in everyday homes to allow air circulation while also creating privacy and shade.

My favorite part of flying, is viewing the cities below when taking off and arriving at your destination. As you back out of the gate and begin takeoff, you look below and see everything at once. Leaving from New York, I see the different shades of brown and grey below, not much color, especially in the outer boroughs. From a distance, you can see the silhouette of the city skyline. The buildings seemed unreal; Manhattan looks like an architectural model, similar to the installation at the Queens Museum. When I arrive or leave Miami, you can see the clear blue water meet the sandy coast, and slowly convert into an urban grid. The houses and buildings in different colors, the greenery dispersed throughout, and major veins of traffic flowing in the form of highways. As I landed in Nicaragua, I could see the greenest grass rolling on small hills, the volcanoes, and Lake Managua in the center of densely populated patches of tin roofs on a ground with a brown tint. You can see the rotundas throughout Managua creating points of traffic flow. 

The perspective of a city from above fascinates me; it’s like an abstract work of art!