Excerpt: Less than a year after opening, Nashville International Airport’s state-of-the-art Concourse D has earned airport industry acclaim for excellence. The Southeast Chapter of the American Association of Airport Executives (SEC-AAAE) this week announced Concourse D as the recipient of its 2021 Commercial Airport Architectural Project of the Year Award, an industry-recognized mark of distinction for BNA’s fourth major concourse.
“We are honored to receive this award from SEC-AAAE and are immensely proud of the Concourse D project,” said Doug Kreulen, BNA’s president and CEO. “This award represents more than two years of hard work that resulted in a multi-faceted modern concourse for BNA travelers. It also signifies $55 million in contracts for small, minority and woman-owned business enterprises (SMWBEs), a 72 percent local workforce and a commitment to sustainability. It’s BNA at its best, and we thank our SEC-AAAE colleagues for this tremendous recognition.”
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Fentress Architects has ranked as one of the top architecture firms in Building Design + Construction Magazine’s 2020 Giants 400 Report. Internationally known for innovative, award-winning design of diverse building types—including airports, museums, convention centers, civic and government buildings, laboratories, and higher education facilities—Fentress ranked #36 on the Top 155 Architecture Firms list, progressing nine places from its 2019 ranking at #45.
In addition to the firm’s recognition as one of the Top Architecture Firms for 2020, Fentress, whose portfolio features over 40 convention center designs including the recently completed LEED Silver Miami Beach Convention Center, is ranked #5 in the Convention Centers / Conference Centers sector. With over $23.8 Billion and 115 Million square feet in aviation projects, the firm is ranked #8 in the Airport Terminal sector. Fentress also landed #22 in the overall Cultural Facilities sector, #10 in the Museums and Galleries category, #63 in the Office – Buildings / Core+Shell sector, and #98 in Office – All Building Work.
“We are proud that our firm was recognized for our continuous efforts to elevate design excellence in public architecture,” said Fentress Architects Principal in Charge of Design Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA. “Our ability to drive growth throughout the industry reflects our team’s unwavering commitment to innovation, along with the collaborative efforts of our clients and project partners.”
As a testament to Fentress’ recognition, the firm garnered 16 awards for design excellence and innovation in 2020 alone, including the American Institute of Architecture (AIA) Colorado’s Twenty-Five Year Award for the Denver International Airport as well as the AIA Western Mountain Region’s Twenty-Five Year Award for the Clark County Government Center. The Miami Beach Convention Center landed a Silver Award in the Façade category of the 2020 World Architecture News (WAN) Awards and a 2020 BEST Award in the Serve category from the International Design Association’s (IIDA) Rocky Mountain Chapter.
Rendering of the Royal Norwegian Embassy Chancery Renovation.
BNA’s Concourse D is One of Only Five LEED v4 Silver Airport Facilities in the United States
Fentress Architects is pleased to announce that the new Concourse D at Nashville International Airport (or BNA, as it is also known) has achieved LEED Silver certification, highlighting the project’s sustainable, wellness-oriented design and construction process. This distinction makes Concourse D one of only five newly constructed airport facilities in the United States, and one of nine airport facilities worldwide, to earn LEED Silver under the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) rigorous LEED v4 standards.
LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the most widely used green building rating system in the world and an international symbol of excellence. LEED v4’s flexible, performance-based approach and progressive sustainability benchmarks are designed to optimize building performance and support occupant health and wellbeing.
“Fentress Architects has been at the forefront of green building design for over four decades,” said Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, Principal in Charge of Design at Fentress Architects. “Energy conservation is a key element of not only our design approach, but our values as a firm. We are proud to have leveraged our expertise, along with the commitment of all partners involved in this significant project, to realize BNA’s forward-thinking sustainability standards.”
The Hensel Phelps | Fentress Architects Progressive Design-Build Team completed the $292 million, 115,000-square-foot expansion of Concourse D in July 2020, marking a major milestone for BNA® Vision—the dynamic expansion and renovation plan for Nashville International Airport. The project elevates the airport as a world-class facility with six domestic aircraft gates, public art, diverse traveler amenities, and improved ramp amenities and function space.
“LEED certification is a coveted mark of environmental distinction and innovation,” said BNA President and CEO Doug Kreulen. “We’re building not only a bigger airport, but also a better, ‘greener,’ more sustainable airport. I’m proud of our commitment to these principles and appreciative of all the hard work that went into obtaining this recognition.”
The project team’s integrative and passenger-centric approach incorporated several green design and construction components to optimize building performance and passenger comfort while minimizing environmental impacts, including:
Electrochromic glass that blocks out excessive sunlight and heat for passengers’ comfort while reducing glare and energy consumption for climate control;
Energy efficient and programmable lighting that dims when natural light is adequate for visibility;
Focus on human health and wellness with features including an abundance of daylighting, green cleaning practices, water bottle filling stations, public art installations, and more;
Light-colored building and paving materials that retain less heat, reducing energy use while mitigating heat-island effect;
Geothermal cooling reduces energy consumption and costs for climate control;
Water-conserving plumbing; and
Waste-reduction focus with recycling bins throughout the concourse and 80 percent of construction waste diverted from landfills.
Other key project partners include Corgan (master architect for BNA® Vision), I.C. Thomasson Associates Inc. (mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineer), Smith Seckman Reid Inc. (commissioning agent), and S&ME (civil engineer/landscape designer).
“At every stage of the project, from the design process to construction, the project team remained committed to aligning our approach with the airport’s sustainability targets,” said Deborah Lucking, AIA, LEED AP BD+C, Director of Sustainability at Fentress Architects. “Fentress is committed to advancing sustainability and human wellness in the built environment and achieving LEED v4 Silver showcases the project team’s dedication to going far beyond the minimum LEED requirements to achieve certification.”
Winning Projects Reimagine Airport Mobility in the Year 2100 for One of the 20 Busiest Airports in the World
The Green Gateway—a zero-emission, highly sustainable multimodal hub—has been named the winner for the 2020 Fentress Global Challenge (FGC), an annual global student design competition launched in 2011 by Fentress Architects that represents the firm’s commitment to advancing innovative design in public architecture and attracts students from around the world.
Envisioning the Airport of the Future
With over 100 submissions from students in over 15 countries, this year’s competition challenged participants to envision airport mobility in the year 2100. Participants proposed a diverse spectrum of design concepts to improve the airport passenger terminal building, addressing the key factors such as futuristic transportation technologies, urbanization, globalization, technology, flexibility, security, project feasibility, and passenger experience.
The 2020 winning proposals reflect the radical innovation, quality and curiosity required to advance airport terminal design. The first-place prize is valued at USD$15,000, second place USD$3,000, third place USD$2,000, and the two People’s Choice Awards will receive USD$1,000.
“A deep passion for design and a creative mindset are the cornerstone of any successful design competition submission,” said Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, Principal in Charge of Design at Fentress Architects. “Each year, the submissions we receive are more innovative, spirited and dynamic than the prior year, which shows an exciting outlook for the future of terminal design. We’re greatly impressed by this year’s winners and every submission we received.”
First-Place Winner: BANIYA, The Green Gateway, designed by Nikhil Bang and Kaushal Tatiya from the Southern California Institute of Architecture.
A Green Gateway
The winning concept, designed by Nikhil Bang and Kaushal Tatiya from the Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arc), transforms Indira Gandhi International Airport into a forward-thinking, sustainable multimodal hub that mitigates the enivironmental impacts of air travel while enhancing mobility across New Delhi, India—one of the most populated and polluted cities in the world. The design, dubbed “the Green Gateway,” proposes a future where airports are more than buildings; they provide a seamless connection to the cultural context of the site, from their planning to their form and materiality.
Embracing sustainable design strategies, the zero-emission concept features a decentralized system of one central terminal and six towers dispersed throughout the city. The towers provide a dual purpose, working as both air-purifying centers and stations for flying cars. This solution significantly improves mobility across the city by replacing domestic flights as one of the major sources of pollution.
The students’ submission describes the airport’s design as “zero-emission at the macro and micro level, improving mobility across the city by replacing domestic flight as one of the major sources of pollution and making air travel a person affair.”
Second-Place Winner: Sejkul, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Drive-In Airport by Dušan Sekulic, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Second Place Winner
What does travel and transportation look like in 2100? According to second-place winner Dušan Sekulic—a student at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia—fully autonomous pods, driving chairs, AI-powered navigation, and vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft will be key ingredients to designing the next-gen airport experience. The concept proposes reimagining Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL)—the busiest airport in the world—as a drive-in airport where travelers’ individual pods and driving chairs bring them directly to the aircraft. Playing off of Atlanta’s reputation as a “city in the forest,” the new ATL will feature a green design approach, merging the airport with the city’s skyline to create an “airport in the forest.”
Third-Place Winner: W.A.D, Floating Aero City designed by Yuanxiang Chan, Chaofan Zhang, and Zhuangzhuang King from Beijing Jiaotong University.
Third Place Winner
This year’s third-place winner responded to an ever-important reality: how airport design can prepare airports located in high-density seaside cities to adapt to the effects of climate change. Floating Aero City, designed by Yuanxiang Chan, Chaofan Zhang, and Zhuangzhuang King from Beijing Jiaotong University, provides a highly visionary approach to sustainable design. Located in Hong Kong, the airport responds to the site’s subtropical climate conditions and high-density issues. Floating on Hong Kong’s ocean, the airport’s three-dimensional, moveable platform reduces the impact on the natural terrain while increasing available land. The structure’s vertical form significantly reduces the time it takes passengers to flow from check-in to boarding, enhancing the overall passenger experience. Sustainable design strategies include daylighting, tidal power generation, a circular runway and hydrogen-powered aircraft.
#1 People’s Choice Award Winner: Arch YiYang, The Vertebrae, designed by Yi Yang Chai and Sharon Cho from the University of Malaya.
People’s Choice Awards
The Vertebrae, designed by Yi Yang Chai and Sharon Cho from the University of Malaya, won the #1 People’s Choice Award with more than 6,200 public votes. The biophilic design harmonizes the built environment with nature to create a “garden city”—the future airport archetype that forms a contextual representation of its culture. Located in Singapore, the concept infuses a biophilic and sustainable approach into every element of the design to renvision the airport as a model of sustainability while amplifying the country’s national identity.
#2 People’s Choice Award Winner: RIE, O’Pon the Hill, designed by Ridwan Arifin, Imaduddin Dhia Ul-Fath and Ervin Dwiratno from Yogyakarta University of Technology
Garnering over 5,900 public votes, O’Pon the Hill Airport landed the #2 People’s Choice Award. Designed by Ridwan Arifin, Imaduddin Dhia Ul-Fath and Ervin Dwiratno from Yogyakarta University of Technology, the concept blends culture, history and technology to envision the future of O’Hare International Airport. This futuristic terminal features a Smart Air Pad to accommodate vertical take-off and landing. Equipped with nanotechnology, the Smart Air Pad examines the performance of aircraft. Additionally, People Mover Pods move passengers throughout the terminal, enhancing circulation and the overall passenger experience.
2020 Fentress Global Challenge Jurors
This year’s winners were handpicked by seven esteemed jurors that are experts in aviation, architecture and engineering.
Jury members include:
Curtis W. Fentress, FAIA, RIBA – Principal in Charge of Design, Fentress Architects
Agatha Kessler – Chairman, Fentress Architects
Lois Kramer – CEO, KRAMER aerotek inc.
George Miller – Richard Meier & Partners Architects LLP
Dr. Patricia A. Ryan – President, Decision Services International
Somer Shindler – Owner, J. Shindler Solutions
Bradley D. Schulz, FAIA
Looking Ahead
The future of aviation and airport terminal design is an ever-changing vision. The Fentress Global Challenge provides an essential platform for students to test their innovation and fuel their creativity. With the new year quickly approaching, Fentress is excited to prepare for the 2021 Fentress Global Challenge. Registration will soon go live. To stay updated on next year’s competition, please visit: https://fentressglobalchallenge.com/.
2020 Fentress Global Challenge Entry. Team: Schiphol International, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, North Carolina State University.
Fentress Architects is excited to announce 22 entries have been shortlisted for the 2020 Fentress Global Challenge (FGC), which garnered more than 100 entries from students in over 15 countries. FGC is an annual international student design competition launched in 2011 by Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA that encourages and rewards innovative design in public architecture. This year’s competition challenged students to envision airport mobility in the year 2100.
“Each year I am ever more impressed by the vision, creativity, and practicality set forth by these young architects,” said Curtis Fentress who is also Principal in Charge of Design at Fentress Architects. “This year’s shortlist couldn’t be more diverse; they range from a modular floating terminal to a self-growing airport integrated into the site’s ecosystem. Each concept pioneers creativity, advances innovation and recognizes real solutions that would enhance the passenger experience of 2100.”
Of the over 100 entries judged last month by a panel of architects and designers at Fentress Architects, most explored one of the following areas: Futuristic Mobility, Mitigation of COVID-19 and Zero-Emission.
Futuristic Mobility
Flying air pods carry passengers and their baggage to and from their home. Team: CGC, HK22, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
Several submissions built upon recent developments in futuristic transportation—from the Hyperloop to autonomous vehicles—to imagine the airport of the future as a multimodal hub equipped to handle next-generation aircraft, space travel, autonomous transportation, integration of the hyperloop, and even autonomous pods. Concepts ranged from terminals with launchpads for spaceflight and underground Hyperloop connections to the replacement of aircraft with self-flying autonomous pods.
Mitigating COVID-19
This concept reimagines Heathrow International Airport as a “healing hub” that monitors and treats disease carriers. Team: S.T., Heathrow Healing Hub, Tel-Aviv University.
The current pandemic inspired a wide range of ideas on how airport design might help mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases, which may be more prevalent in 2100. Fully touchless airports as well as terminals that dual function as “healing hubs” were among the concepts that sought to create health-centric, comfortable, and efficient travel experiences.
Zero-Emission Airports
The Green Gateway transforms Indira Gandhi International Airport into a zero-mission, sustainable airport. Team: BANIYA, The Green Gateway, Southern California Institute of Architecture.
A number of submissions utilized cutting-edge solutions as a means to develop zero-emission airport facilities. Among the forward-thinking ideas submitted were airports that integrate with the surrounding ecosystem; terminals reimagined as greenhouses; and decentralized air purifying towers.
The 22 contestants will be judged virtually by a jury of renowned airport architects, directors, planners, and scholars. Winners will be announced in October.
The 2020 Shortlist:
W.A.D, Floating Aero City – Hong Kong International Airport, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing, China
Arch YiYang, The Vertebrae – Singapore Changi Airport, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
BANIYA, The Green Gateway – Indira Gandhi International Airport, Southern California Institute of Architecture (SCI-Arch), Los Angeles, California, USA
Ajay Kamaleshwaran, CornUcopia – Indira Gandhi International Airport, Anna University School of Architecture and Planning, Chennai, India
TIArch Studio, The Reserve – Indira Gandhi International Airport, Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering, TIArch Studio, Kazan, Russia
Qianqian YU, ReBABEL – Hong Kong International Airport, Special School of Architecture (École Spéciale d’Architecture), Paris, France
Beyond Heathrow, A New Airport for London – Heathrow Airport, The Barlett – University College London, London, England
Schiphol International, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
ISM, Resonance of the Antiquity – Indira Gandhi International Airport, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Lucy Janik, LAX Airport Relocation – Los Angeles International Airport, Cracow University of Technology, Kraków, Poland
Qian Lin and Umica Yelavarthy, Shanghai Pudong International Airport of the Future, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
Henry Alridge, A Built-In Obsolescence – Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England
CGC, HK22 – Hong Kong International Airport, Harvard Graduate School of Design, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
CRAB, Shanghai Pudong International Airport, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
PRAXIS, Modular Floating Airport, Singapore University of Technology & Design, Singapore
RIE, O’Pon on the Hill, Yogyakarta University of Technology, Sleman, Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta, Indonesia
Sejkul, Drive-In Airport 2100 – Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Architecture, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Ryerson University, Head in the Clouds, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada
Marklin Huynh, Istanbul International Airport Asian Terminal, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina, USA
M3DMA, Tokyo Gate – Tokyo International (Haneda) Airport, Gdansk University of Technology, Gdańsk, Poland
Oporajeyo, The City Lungs – Indira Gandhi International Airport, North South University, Dhaka, Bangladesh
The shortlist will be judged virtually by a jury of renowned airport architects, directors, planners, and scholars. Winners will be announced in October.
On Friday, July 17, the first Southwest Airlines flight took off from the new Concourse D at Nashville International Airport (BNA). Delivered by the Hensel Phelps | Fentress Architects Progressive Design-Build Team, the 115,000-square-foot expansion signifies a major milestone for BNA Vision – a dynamic expansion and renovation plan aimed at maintaining the airport’s status as a world-class facility to keep pace with the airport’s record-breaking passenger volumes and projected growth.
The new concourse is a key element of the $292 million, 315,000-square-foot Concourse D and Terminal Wings Expansion project. It will significantly enhance the passenger experience as the airport continues to bring BNA Vision to reality. As Concourse D opens, Hensel Phelps and Fentress Architects are at work on another major project at BNA: a substantial terminal lobby renovation and state-of-the-art International Arrivals Facility, will be completed in late 2023.
“The new Concourse D elevates the passenger experience as a state-of-the-art facility with modern finishes that will delight travelers as they come and go at BNA,” said Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, Principal in Charge of Design at Fentress Architects. “The flexible design allows the airport to accommodate future growth, passenger needs, evolving technology and aviation trends, all while creating a modern gateway befitting Nashville’s world-class prominence. We’re excited to continue working with the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority and Hensel Phelps to bring the BNA Vision to life.”
The 115,000-square-foot expansion of Concourse D adds six new domestic aircraft gates, public art, and a variety of traveler amenities, along with improved ramp amenities and function space. Additional components of the project include a 136,000-square-foot renovation of existing terminal space and a new 11,000-square-foot Central Utility Plant to heat and cool the terminal.
“The new Concourse D gives us more capacity for commercial air service to meet the rising demand for travel to and from Nashville,” said Doug Kreulen, MNAA president and CEO. “At the same time, it’s an impressive, energy efficient structure reflective of the world-class airport that is taking shape. BNA Vision is an exciting series of projects, and there’s much more to come. We are proud to serve Nashville and Middle Tennessee.”
This fall, the team will complete BNA’s 200,000-square-foot North and South Terminal Wings Expansions, providing for interim TSA checkpoints, permanent ticketing check-in counters, baggage claim devices and support offices.
In response to coronavirus (COVID-19), the project team implemented safety and social distancing protocols in line with CDC guidelines to strengthen the wellbeing of both project team members and passengers while creating a safe and healthy airport experience. Developing an adaptive and agile response, the team delivered Concourse D on time.
“Few projects have been as iconic or meaningful to a city as the Denver International Airport.” — 2020 Honor Awards Jury
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) Colorado chapter selected the Denver International Airport (DEN) Passenger Terminal as the recipient of the 2020 Twenty-five Year Award. As one of the most prestigious honors in Colorado’s built environment, the award is presented annually to a project that has “significantly influenced design and lifestyle in Colorado” and features a “timeless and enduring design that has created a sense of place” for at least 25 years.
“Our vision for DEN’s Passenger Terminal was to create a memorable design – a gateway to Colorado and the West,” said Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, Principal in Charge of Design at Fentress Architects. “Twenty-five years later, the design continues to transcend time and is known around the world. I would like to thank AIA Colorado Honor Awards Jury, the entire project team, and my former partner Jim Bradburn.”
Creating a Memorable Symbol
Completed in 1995, Fentress’ design for DEN’s Jeppesen Terminal stimulated a paradigm shift in the way architects and the public perceive airport design. Previously, airports were conceived as ‘people processors’ – nondescript warehouses comprised of low ceilings and dim lighting. Fentress sought to change this notion by creating an airport that serves as a symbol of Denver and a gateway welcoming all to Colorado and the West; architecture as memorable as it was functional.
“Few projects have been as iconic or as meaningful to a city as the Denver International Airport,” said the 2020 Honor Awards Jury at the AIA Colorado Design and Honor Awards Ceremony on August 17. “This project is known nationally and internationally and has beautifully withstood the test of time. This project is a no-brainer for a Twenty-five Year Award. Its timeless design has become an architectural icon for the City of Denver.”
To create a significant airport, the terminal’s design embodies forms and materials native to the Rocky Mountain region. Peaked roof forms rise 130 to 150 feet, evoking a sense that one has stepped onto the snowcapped mountains that inspired the architecture. The context-driven design signified the first time an airport became a timeless icon of a region through expressive forms and has inspired the architecture of hundreds of airports worldwide.
Driving Innovation
DEN’s design set a new standard in innovation. With a deadline of only three weeks to create a new terminal concept, the design team reimagined the terminal archetype by relocating the building’s mechanical system from the roof to underground and designed the world’s largest structurally integrated, Teflon-coated tensile-membrane roof at the time of completion.
“At the time we designed the terminal, we took many risks,” said Curtis Fentress. “A lot of creative decisions we made had not been done before on such a massive scale. To all the young architects, don’t be afraid to push the limits to create great architecture.”
As one of the world’s largest daylit structures, DEN’s design showcases the first time permanent skylights were integrated into a roof form with tensile membrane fabric. Skylights atop the eight tallest masts reach up to 150 feet, allowing sunlight into the building to enliven the space. To fasten the roof’s fabric to the glass building structure, the design team developed the first “sausage connection” – a pliable two-foot diameter vinyl tubular section – which allows the structure to safely move up to 30 inches during dynamic roof movement without affecting the glass walls.
Design that Stands the Test of Time
Over the last 25 years, DEN’s Jeppesen Terminal has inspired the region’s built environment, establishing a precedent for architecture to create a sense of place while providing a sustainable and enduring commitment to both Coloradans and visitors. Today, the terminal continues to stand as a memorable gateway to the West and an enduring symbol of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.
DEN is consistently voted as one of the most efficient and significant airports worldwide, including its ranking as one of the “Best Airports in 2020” by Skytrax World Airport Awards and the “Best of the Biggest U.S. Airports” by Wall Street Journal in 2018.
Construction collaboration to build SJC’s Interim Facility wins international honors
SAN JOSE, CA—Mineta San José International Airport (SJC), Hensel Phelps (HP), Fentress Architects, Southwest Airlines and OrgMetrics LLC together won the International Partnering Institute’s (IPI) distinguished Diamond Partnering Level Award for their construction collaboration in building SJC’s Interim Facility in Terminal B. IPI honors organizations and individuals who have worked to make the construction industry more collaborative for a successful outcome.
SJC’s Interim Facility was built as a temporary solution to accommodate SJC’s rapid passenger growth over the past four years. Six additional gates were added in this temporary facility to meet Silicon Valley’s ongoing demand for travel at SJC. Additionally, the Interim Facility is intended to serve passengers until the Airport’s future expansion of a new terminal is realized, as a part of the Airport’s Updated Master Plan.
Planning for the Interim Facility Project began in early 2018, with a fast-paced schedule to open four gates as soon as feasible. Roughly four months into planning, Airport officials saw an opportunity to fund two additional gates, resulting in a total of six new gates housed in the interim facility – all planned, designed, built, and operational in under a year.
“The success of this very aggressive 11-month timeline is credited to the partnership and shared vision of our partners and stakeholders,” said John Aitken, SJC Director of Aviation. “We are grateful to our Airline and Construction partners who provided strong teams to work with us in San Jose, and also to IPI for recognizing the value of this collaboration. While the new space succeeded in meeting our need at the time during daily record-breaking passenger growth, it now also offers us added flexibility to accommodate new realities such as social distancing.”
OrgMetrics LLC, a professional partnering facilitator, successfully guided the team through each phase of the construction project. With regular partnering sessions and a highly performing team, the first five gates opened in June 2019, while the final gate opened in time for the busy holiday traffic in November 2019.
In addition to the six additional gates, the $58 million Interim Facility provides more concessions space, additional restrooms, and allows for more flight scheduling flexibility for airlines to support current airport operations and future growth.
HP served as the primary construction contractor for the Interim Facility, while Fentress Architects provided the design of the building. Currently, all six gates in the Interim Facility are operated by Southwest Airlines.
COVID-19 is forcing designers to reimagine the way the built environment is experienced. In particular, public transportation venues have been severely affected by the pandemic and many of their operators are searching for means to ensure passenger safety and build long-term user confidence.
In April 2020, we saw air travel in the U.S. reach an all-time low as passenger traffic dropped by more than 95%. As of June 2020, with travel bans and restrictions loosened and lifted, passenger traffic has begun to grow—albeit slowly.
Scenarios for global recovery reflect the latest predictions of significant economic decline in 2020 and partial recovery in 2021. Graph and data: InterVISTAS.
Fentress Architects’ Aviation Studio formed a COVID-19 Committee at the outset of the pandemic. The objective of the Committee has been to provide airport operators and airlines with well-researched design strategies for the creation of healthy, safe and comfortable environments that maintain high levels of efficiency and are fiscally feasible. The Committee’s recommendations fall into two actionable phases: NOW and NEXT. A third phase – BEYOND – serves comprehensive planning efforts. Recommendations include touchless technologies, integrated safety measures, wayfinding solutions, queue management and more. This multi-phased approach will help mitigate the spread of today’s virus as well as future, yet unknown infectious diseases.
NOW: PRODUCE IMMEDIATE RESULTS
It’s crucial to respond quickly, efficiently and wisely in times of crisis. Entry screening, touchpoint reduction, wayfinding, queue management and new holdroom seating configurations are a few ways that simple modifications and additions can be employed to yield immediate and effective results.
Entry Screening
Health and temperature screening—via Infrared Thermal Detection Systems (ITDS) for Mass Screening—at entrances and security queues will help identify infectious persons. While research has shown temperature screening may not capture all cases of COVID-19 (it is possible for carriers of this disease to present without elevated temperature), it will detect a significant amount. And in doing so, this safety measure will instill confidence among travelers and staff in the facility’s procedures.
Reducing Touchpoints
Touchpoints, also known as occasions for human interaction, consistently emerge throughout the airport experience: from check-in to security, concessions and boarding. Given 80 percent of all infectious diseases can be transmitted through touch (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), it is crucial to limit surface contact. Numerous technologies—facial recognition, artificial intelligence and biometric scanners—have already been employed to improve the passenger experience and reduce touchpoints.
Touchless kiosks can limit human-to-surface contact. Photo: AirAsia
Over the last five years, touchless, gesture-based kiosks have been gaining momentum at museums to enhance the check-in process and diminish wait times. Airports can leverage this same technology to transform self-serve kiosks from touch to touchless, which significantly reduces the risk of viral or bacterial transmission.
Wayfinding + Queue Management
Logical and logistical wayfinding strategies are essential to ensuring positive passenger experiences. Designers routinely utilize subtle, often unseen, wayfinding techniques to alleviate the stress of travel. However, the opposite is needed in a pandemic when travelers yearn for “can’t miss it” strategies that reduce uncertainty and anxiety.
Arconas’ ‘Leave Space’ Floor Stickers placed six feet apart in queuing areas can help facilitate social distancing. Photo: Arconas
Several temporary solutions, such as Arconas’ ‘Leave Space’ Floor Stickers placed six feet apart in queuing areas, encourage physical distancing while also guiding passengers. We’ve seen these ad-hoc methods used in almost every building type – from coffee shops and grocery stores to civic buildings and even airports. However, a more effective solution for airports requires a strong focus on queue management.
Holdroom Seating Configuration
The pre-COVID-19 “Serpentine” queue layout requires people to encounter one another.
In the traditional “Serpentine” security queue, passengers face one another as they navigate their way to the checkpoint, making it nearly impossible to avoid face-to-face contact.
A “Ski Lift” queue layout ensures all passengers remain front facing.
Alternatives like the “Ski Lift” queue ensure all passengers remain front facing. Social distance stickers coupled with a “Ski Lift” queue would be highly effective in reducing the spread of germs.
Security Checkpoints
Now that we have discussed queue management, it’s time to integrate this measure into the bigger picture: improving the entire security checkpoint process.
Facilitating a front-facing flow in the queue, passenger temperature screening, mitigating contact with officers, and providing sanitizer or hand washing stations can help create a safer security process.
First and foremost, airports must ensure all building users –TSA officers, airport and airline staff, and passengers – are protected throughout the entire airport experience. Since pre-COVID-19 security checkpoints are prone to human-to-human contact, it’s essential to rethink the process with safe and health-driven improvements.
Here are some easily implemented methods to enhance comfort and safety at security checkpoints:
Enforce social distancing and front-facing flow in the queue
Passenger temperature screening prior to proceeding through the checkpoint
Protect TSA officers behind Plexiglass screens
Provide handwashing stations after high-traffic contact areas
Holdroom Configuration
Social distancing of passengers in the pre-COVID-19 holdroom is physically impossible due to cross traffic conflicts.
Pre-COVID-19 holdroom layouts provide little to no social distancing. Cross traffic obliterates social distancing requirements, resulting in only three feet of space between individuals as they walk down an aisle.
Fentress re-designed holdroom seating to enhance social distancing and comfort.
So, we’ve reimagined holdroom seating configurations to ensure passenger comfort without a reduction in capacity. By rotating the seating, airports can significantly increase usability of existing seating capacity.
Arconas’ Place® Chair Shield Accessory (adaptation for social distancing)
Additionally, we collaborated with designer Michael McCoy to create a shield add-on for Arconas’ Place® Chair, which adheres to social distance guidelines.
The Pacific Marketplace in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s Central Terminal features flexible seating areas.
Additional seating solutions include the transformation of otherwise unused areas, like concession seating, into additional holdroom space.
NEXT: EXPONENTIALLY BETTER
“Now” proposes strategies and solutions to be implemented within a matter of weeks and when passenger volumes are at their lowest. Meanwhile, “Next” includes strategies and solutions that need longer to fully implement and occur with increasing passenger volumes. They expand on phase one in both size and scope: from touchpoint reduction to touchless; from spacing to orientation for both queuing and holdrooms.
Touchless Experience
Simply put, it isn’t enough to reduce touchpoints; the airport experience must evolve to be touchless. Touchless environments not only expedite and enhance all aspects of travel, they also improve health.
The world’s first fully biometric terminal was created for Delta Airlines at Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson International Airport. It integrates biometrics from curb to gate, which not only removed touchpoints, it also saved an average of nine minutes when boarding a wide body aircraft alone. At the Fentress-designed South Terminal Complex for Orlando International Airport, biometric boarding gates will help reduce surface contact while creating a more efficient boarding process.
Airports may also choose to limit surface contact in elevators with solutions like MAD Elevator Inc.’s “Kick-to-Go,” which is comprised of foot-activated buttons, and “Touch-to-Go,” which provides easy-to-clean elevator touchscreens.
Breeze at LAX allows passengers to order food via an app for pick-up at a kiosk. Photo: Fly with Breeze
Expansion of low-touch concession opportunities will further enhance the passenger experience. Earlier this year, Los Angeles International Airport adopted this strategy to pilot an on-demand food service program in Terminal 2. The service incorporates a ‘ghost kitchen’, which allows passengers to pre-order for pickup while the food is prepared in an existing kitchen space within the terminal. This sustainable model is an efficient solution, avoiding the need for new construction and infrastructure.
Arconas’ Place® Chair Cluster
While the addition of dividers between seats in holdrooms is an important first step, furniture options such as Arconas’ Place® Chair Cluster and Radius Dividers maximize personal space for passengers while optimizing seat utilization. The incorporation of leaning rails throughout concourses can also help mitigate touchpoints and offer operators more easy-to-clean surfaces.
Expand Outdoors
The Fentress-designed Austin-Bergstrom International Airport features outdoor seating areas.
Working closely with designers, airports can expand seating to outdoor areas to accommodate higher passenger levels while allowing for social distancing. At the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport (above), Fentress’ design expanded the holdroom outdoors, establishing an efficient way to optimize the site’s unused space.
Outdoor holdroom seating offers benefits far beyond increased space. It also provides natural ventilation for passengers, promoting passenger well-being while maintaining a healthy and comfortable atmosphere.
BEYOND: EXPANDING THE SCOPE OF POSSIBILITY
While it’s easy for the industry to focus on short-term survival, airports and designers must take a responsive and resilient approach to adapt to a post-COVID-19 world. Ultimately, our goal as airport designers is to create physical environments that instill passenger and consumer confidence in the world’s aviation system for the long term. This forward-thinking approach requires a design strategy that far surpasses implementation of COVID-19 protocols; it requires designing flexibility and resiliency into structures that can easily acclimate to unforeseen conditions for the next 20 years and beyond.
Technology is the Future
Technology has been a catalyst for airport design innovations long before the current pandemic. But now, more than ever, it will be essential in creating flexible buildings while ensuring passengers stay informed and connected. Automation technology such as robotics will become more common to provide passengers with pertinent information, improving airport efficiency and service. Incheon International Airport adopted this technology early on, incorporating customer-facing robots to advise passengers throughout the airport journey.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) will help improve airport operations and facilitate safety measures. At Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, an airside artificial intelligence system will enhance aircraft taxing, gate allocation and turnaround. The airport also implemented visual sensors to monitor passenger line lengths to help improve efficiency while facilitating queue management.
Leveraging Digital Technology
Capitalizing on digital technology will also be paramount to the future of airport design. Our aviation experts have taken forward-thinking approach to the holdroom boarding experience by creating a concept for a new podium that supports social distancing with a built-in shield between passengers and airline staff. This visually informative LED screen also provides 360-degree coverage, empowering passengers to remain in their seats while staying updated with flight information.
Resilient Public Spaces
Resiliency is key when it comes to designing public spaces. Public areas in airports of the future will need to accommodate more space for separation between passengers while remaining flexible to respond to health issues that could arise.
Other passenger-facing areas such as ticket counters, security checkpoints and holdrooms will also need to be highly configurable to accommodate shifting passenger levels, safety protocols such as health scans and sporadic social distancing requirements.
Driving Wellbeing + Sustainability
The airport of the future has an opportunity to be a catalyst for public health. This strategy goes beyond cleaning surfaces; it places the wellbeing of users and the environment at the heart of the design. Designers can leverage building systems while setting ambitious energy efficiency targets to improve health of both passengers and the environment. The goal is to redefine the airport as an agent for health and a driver for a sustainable future.
While we can’t predict the future, we can employ flexible design strategies to mitigate the impact of uncertainty.
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