How the Hoberman Arch was restored from buckets of bolts to its Olympic glory

When Gordon Huether visited the undisclosed Salt Lake City location of the disassembled Hoberman Arch, he found buckets of bolts and a disorganized pile of aluminum.

“Nothing was really in order,” said Huether, who was tapped to restore the arch to its former Olympic glory. “Nothing was numbered. Somebody had chopped right through a major structural member so that you can’t use it anymore. It was quite a feat.”

After nearly a decade away from public view, the iconic Hoberman Arch of the 2002 Winter Games is back in the spotlight, this time at Salt Lake City International Airport.

Public officials joined members of the Olympic and Paralympic community late Tuesday morning to unveil the relic of Utah’s largest-ever sporting event.

Huether, the artist behind “The Canyon” art installation in the airport atrium, said he started working on the nearly $3.8 million arch project about 18 months ago. The price tag was covered by airport revenues, which do not come out of the city’s general fund.

The arch, which debuted as the centerpiece of the Medals Plaza in 2002 and was inspired by Utah’s natural arches, is featured on a parcel near the airport’s exit to Interstate 80. The artwork stands 72 feet wide, 36 feet tall, is made up of 4,000 individual pieces and weighs about 31,000 pounds. Its new base raises the piece’s total height by 10 to 12 feet.

After the Games, and amid disagreement among city leaders at the time, the arch found a temporary home at Rice-Eccles Stadium on the University of Utah campus. In 2014, the U. asked the city to take back the artwork. It was dismantled and taken to an impound lot on the city’s west side. The following January, thieves took pieces of the arch, and officials had to move the artwork to an undisclosed location for safekeeping.

When he took on the project, Huether led a team to lay out all the pieces — some of them rusted — and inventory what was available. The crew dug up old drawings and got in touch with the office of the arch’s designer, Chuck Hoberman.

It was a process that Huether described as “elaborate.”

“It’s like Humpty Dumpty’s laying there,” he said, “and you’re picking up his shell and seeing, does that fit?”

Crews assembled the arch on the ground and, last week, a crane lifted the piece for installation at its new airport home.

When first erected for the Games, the arch’s panels opened and closed like the iris of an eye. That won’t happen at its new location. The pieces instead will be fixed to prevent distracting drivers. What will move, however, is a light display that will highlight the piece at night.

Mayor Erin Mendenhall called the arch “the real symbol of Salt Lake City welcoming the world.”

“It deserves to be displayed,” she said. “It’s part of our legacy, it’s part of our identity, and it’s part of our passion for being an Olympic city.”

Mendenhall said being part of the push to bring back the Games is one of the “great privileges” of being Salt Lake City’s mayor, and her enthusiasm about that effort inspired her to return the arch to public display.

She said there isn’t a plan to allow up-close access to the piece, but she intends to work with Huether and airport Executive Director Bill Wyatt to explore how to accommodate that.

Fraser Bullock, CEO of Salt Lake City-Utah Committee for the Games, said the arch has found a perfect home — one that will allow millions from Utah and beyond to see it.

“It is a symbol to help us remember that the people of Utah hosted one of the greatest Games in history,” Bullock said. “And it’s also a symbol of the hope of [another] Games in the not-too-distant future.”

Utah officials hope to stage the Winter Olympics in 2030 or 2034.

The arch isn’t the last large work of art that will land at the airport. Huether said installation will begin next week on a multistory piece, “The Peaks,” near the airport’s entrance.