THE SKY OF HUMANKIND
Moorhead State University, Moorhead, Minnesota, 2005

After meeting with the building users for the new Science Building, Carolyn Braaksma developed the design for the 6,000 square foot terrazzo floor of the main lobby and central hallways of the new building. The narrative mixes science with mythology and regional natural history; it contains the sun, planets, and stars of the cosmos, as well as the mythological symbols of Draco (the dragon is the school mascot), Pisces and Cygnus. Cygnus represents all birds that migrate through Minnesota’s avian flyway, evolving through ribbons and paths that metamorphose into oversized microscopic biological and molecular features along the adjacent hallway.