The PDX carpet: One person's biohazard is another's cultural icon

Portland may never get an answer to a question that has puzzled residents for almost 30 years. Is the carpet in Portland International Airport more of a teal blue or a teal green? Starting this month, officials at PDX, home of the most beloved airport carpet in the world, will begin tearing out some 14 acres of the kind-of blue, sort-of green rug. Portlandia is not having an easy time of it…. [T]he carpet, which was designed by SRG Architects in 1987. The composition reportedly reflects the airport’s intersecting runways; the color scheme most definitely bucks the tradition of using neutral colors for something more in keeping with the city’s quirky Pacific Northwestern identity. For a carpet pattern, it almost looks like a Suprematist painting.

Imagine that you’ve lived in your house since, oh…1987, and the carpet, which you installed when you moved in, is still there. Just think of all of the things you’ve done on and to that carpet over the years; you’d think it was well past time to replace it, right?? Given all the food, fluids, and various and assorted detritus that has been dropped on and ground into the carpet over the years, you might be tempted to have it declared a biohazard…and not without good reason. An almost 30 year old carpet is something you might expect to find in a frat house, not in the airport of a major American city.

Welcome to PDX, where one person’s biohazard is another’s connection to all that’s good and right with the world. Try to change that, and…well, be prepared for a social media phenomenon no one could have foreseen.

Like anything old, the time comes when it needs to be replaced. We all wear out sometime, right? The PDX carpet, designed and installed in 1987, has become a cultural touchstone for many of those who’ve passed through PDX over the years. For most of us who travel frequently, airports tend to be drab, charmless warehouses we pass through on our way to somewhere else. We see little and notice even less. The goal is to get in, get out, and get on with it. From my experience, what most travelers remember about airports are the not so pleasant aspects of their time in transit. That’s not the case in Portland, which is one of the things that makes PDX so special. I’ve been to and through more airports around the world than I can remember, but PDX is still by far my favorite. No matter where I’ve been coming home to it is always special. Even though I hadn’t fully realized it until the Port of Portland announced the carpet would be replaced, that was one of the things that made the experience special. Funny how you never fully appreciate something until it’s (about to be) gone, eh?

Not only was PDX named America’s Best Airport by Travel + Leisure Magazine in 2013 and 2014, the PDX carpet has developed what could only be described as a cult following. That THAT, Heathrow….

The airport’s “Tweet Your Feet” campaign gets travelers to take photos of their feet on the carpet and then post them to the airport’s Twitter account. Being the sucker that I am for such things, I’ve taken part in it myself:

Merchants at PDX sell socks, T-shirts, and other paraphernalia adorned with the carpet’s famous pattern. There are even a few people sporting tattoos of the carpet pattern. As you might imagine, though, after going on close to 30 years, the carpet is showing its age (and has been for several years), having been completely worn through in different areas of the airport five concourses. The old girl’s showing her age, and so the Port of Portland has decided to replace the carpet. After commissioning a new design and announcing the upcoming change…well, the mourners are out in force. The carpet’s being replaced…but judging by the response, you’d think a close friend has just passed away. In a sense, I suppose, that’s exactly what’s happening.

Over the years, fans of the carpet have done all sorts of things to demonstrate their devotion to the PDX carpet. Some expressions of affection are a little bit more permanent than others: