NEW ORLEANS – Two dozen skateboarders were “flipping,” “grinding” and “sliding” their way through the abandoned old MSY terminal at a May 1-2 event sponsored by energy drink maker Red Bull.
The “Red Bull Terminal Takeover” transformed the former New Orleans airport terminal into three custom-built parks designed by New York Design and Construction, which modified escalators for skaters to roll down, built a six-foot quarter pipe channel gap and designed a vertical wall set against the terminal’s mid-century glass arch. In the baggage claim area, plywood covered the carousels for easier riding.
“We spend so much of our lives in airports as pro skaters,” said skater Jake Wooten in a press release. “We take four-hour layovers and daydream about what could be done on our boards. I look at stairs and rails. They’re the smallest architectural features but a skate spot is all I see. The fact that Red Bull was able to make it happen and turn an old airport into a park is like something out of a video game.”
