Passenger Terminal World - Passenger Terminal World Annual Showcase 2025
Taking inspiration from popular community destinations to design feel-good airports for passengers and employees
2024-10-17 08:12:43
DESIGN DELIGHT
What do passengers want? This question has long been asked by airport stakeholders and designers, and the response is generally a familiar list of features: comfortable seating, good food, natural lighting, local flair and so on.
For Fentress Architects, the answer to this question can be summed up in a single sentence: passengers want to look forward to spending time in the airport terminal, just as they look forward to their final destination.
Knowing that architecture is central to an enjoyable experience, the Fentress design team draws inspiration from places where people choose to spend their free time, such as coffee shops, cultural centers, shopping districts and parks.
Taking cues from the design of places that are central to our daily lives offers a range of advantages. Innovative integration of these features can deliver benefits that are both experiential and functional, such as improving building performance and the passenger experience simultaneously. It can also create an airport environment that celebrates what is special about a region, giving passengers an experience that feels distinctly local.
Los Angeles Airport’s Bradley West
The extension of the Tom Bradley International Terminal – Bradley West – achieves this level of passenger experience with a design that is quintessentially LA. Since opening in 2016, Bradley West has made passengers feel special, offering them a touch of red-carpet treatment.
The rolling roofline – reminiscent of cresting ocean waves – is created from a series of overlapping vaults that form clerestories on the north and east façades. The building’s orientation brings an abundance of diffused daylight into the airy terminal and concourses, improving building performance while lifting passenger spirits. Along the perimeter, exterior sunshades reduce solar glare and heat gain so passengers can comfortably enjoy the breathtaking panorama of the airport and the Santa Monica Mountains beyond.
Fentress Architects designed the signature 150,000ft2 (13,900m2) Great Hall to offer a bounty of amenities worthy of a world-class creative hub. A multiscreen video installation captivates children and adults alike with videos that highlight the area’s urban and natural environments. Play areas provide families with fun places to take their restless children. Changing art exhibitions add to the distinctive sense of place and offer passengers new experiences on subsequent visits.
“Taking cues from the design of places that are central to our daily lives offers a range of advantages”
Of course, an LA experience would not be complete without name-brand boutiques and premier eateries. By prioritizing traveler experience throughout the design, Bradley West refines and redefines the traditional airport layout.
Orlando Airport’s Terminal C
With soaring lines and sweeping vistas, the new Terminal C opened in 2022 with a distinct sense of place that delivers The Orlando Experience. The essence of sky, water and flora was aesthetically integrated into the design to showcase the natural beauty of central Florida and provide an unprecedented first and last impression of Orlando.
Fentress Architects applied urban design principles to create human-scale spaces that support passenger health and well-being through the integration of biophilic elements. With its continuous skylight of varying blue frits, a boulevard stretching 1,000ft (305m) serves as the main circulation spine and offers two plaza-like spaces – Town Square and Palm Court – that provide comfortable seating arrangements for passengers.
Palm Court features a dynamic multimedia installation called the Moment Vault, delivering an interactive experience that delights passengers of all ages. The entire route, from concourse to curbside, is brought to life with a profusion of daylight that dapples through palm fronds and skylights to enliven the arrival experience.
Arriving domestic passengers deplane into spacious concourses flanked by expansive windows, and an elevated glass corridor greets international travelers, helping to readjust circadian rhythms after long journeys. A vast range of biophilic elements can also be seen in furniture and millwork with nature-inspired palettes. Retail and concessions use woodframe portals to create a holistic design, and furniture is covered in calming shades of blue and sea-foam green with wooden side tables and benches.
Nashville Airport’s Terminal Lobby and International Arrival Facility
Nashville’s expanded Terminal Lobby and International Arrivals Facility (IAF) opened in 2023, the largest of seven projects that will deliver the BNA Vision of a state-of-the-art airport to meet the needs of Middle Tennessee today and well into the future.
An elegant, undulating roof canopy extends a friendly southern welcome to Music City visitors, providing intuitive, passenger-friendly navigation from curbside to gate – including a covered bridge that takes pedestrians safely to and from the parking garage, avoiding the busy traffic below. Clad on the underside with a warm wood tone, this central spine features a series of grand skylights that bathe the space in diffused daylight. Clerestory windows with electrochromic glass reduce solar and heat load in the west-facing concourse.
The 780,000ft2 (72,500m2) Terminal Lobby offers passengers a distinctly Nashville experience, with a marketplace that features dining and retail amenities with local character, as well as services that enhance time spent in the airport. Additionally, gender-inclusive restrooms and dedicated mothers’ rooms provide contemporary elements that are appreciated by travelers.
Of course, happy employees are also important for passenger contentment. To meet the demands of both, IAF’s expanded and consolidated security checkpoint minimizes wait times, and a new Customs and Border Protection (CBP) zone accommodates 800 passengers per hour using the latest in biometric technology. Overhead, a 650ft2 (60m2) artwork extends a heartfelt ‘Welcome to Nashville’ to one and all.
The international terminal needed to remain fully operational throughout design and construction, so it was essential to maintain a comfortable environment for passengers and employees throughout that time. To expedite construction, the world’s second-largest crane was used to raise the roof by strategically placing six columns – a herculean task that was performed at night to avoid inconveniencing passengers traveling through the airport.
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