To most people, tarmac markings are hieroglyphics writ large: an obscure language that greets us as we glide down toward the earth. It is a code both intimately familiar and radically alien. On the Tarmac reconceives this code. Designer Dennis Pieprz, who spends countless hours taxiing to distant terminals as part of his work, documented his travels, armed with boundless curiosity and an iPhone. As if collecting postcards along his journey, Pieprz framed images not to convey instructions but to capture vivid patterns and surprising juxtapositions, rigorous geometry and playful shadows. By freeing the tarmac from utility, Pieprz’s photos allow new meanings to emerge, exploring poetry of line work and the ballet of human activity. They are about catching glimpses of the hyper-local amid relentless globalization. They are about slowing the pace and paying attention. Most of all, they are about seeking the sublime in the everyday.

• Introduction by Philip Barash
• Photography by Dennis Pieprz

Contributors Biographies

Designer and urbanist Dennis Pieprz is passionate about cities. As a Principal and practitioner at Sasaki, his experience encompasses the design of urban districts, new communities, campus environments, waterfronts, and urban regeneration. Pieprz approaches his work with a critical understanding of the forces that shape contemporary cities. While traveling to project locations around the world, Pieprz documents cities and people through the lens of his iPhone camera. A curious observer of daily life, Pieprz frames the world with the empathy of a designer and the precision of an ethnographer. Educated at the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the University of Toronto School of Architecture, Dennis leads remarkable teams that have been honored with more than 50 design awards, including national recognition from the American Institute of Architects, the American Society of Landscape Architects, and the Society for College and University Planning. Dennis has been inducted as an honorary member of ASLA—a title bestowed upon only a handful of professionals nationwide.

F. Philip Barash is creative director at Sasaki, where he oversees the firm’s place branding practice. An accomplished writer, curator, and brand-builder, Barash helps clients define and communicate the vision, strategy and design principles for major real estate developments and public realm projects. His critical writing about design culture frequently appears in regional and national publications. Recent curatorial projects include the first solo exhibition of iconoclastic designer Jimenez Lai’s work and a collection of architectural photography on permanent display at the University of Chicago. Barash explored the intersection of identity and the built environment in the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities at the University of Chicago and studied digital media at the University of Detroit Mercy.