America Has Finally Built a Beautiful Airport

Video hosted and narrated by Fred Mills. This video contains paid promotion for Brilliant.

AROUND the world, there are some truly breathtaking airports.

In Singapore there’s the beautiful Changi, Morocco has the distinctive Marrakech Menara and of course there’s the spectacular Zayed International in the UAE. Stunning both inside and out, these buildings are a mark of what can be achieved through innovative design.

But you’ll notice none of them are in America. In fact, no US airport ranks inside the top 20 in the world, which might come as a surprise. After all, the nation invented the aeroplane and is home to the planet’s oldest operating airport.

While America has some 'unique' ports, it’s fair to say they haven't been the country's strong suit - until now.

In the Pacific Northwest, a new terminal has opened and it’s not just one of the most beautiful airports in America, it’s up there with the most beautiful in the world.

Portland International is a game changer

Located on the West Coast of the United States, Oregon is a haven of natural beauty. Blessed with both the Pacific Ocean and the Cascade Mountain Range, Beaver State residents are spoiled for choice.

Up to the north, the state’s biggest city is Portland. With an unofficial slogan of ‘Keep Portland Weird’ you can imagine it’s a fun place to spend a weekend. But first, you’ll need to get there.

That means passing through Portland International. Steadfast and reliable, it was always one of America’s better airports but for years it’s been in desperate need of an upgrade.

The original terminal was constructed nearly 70 years ago in 1956. Over time, development has seen it spread across eleven separate buildings. The problem is that they were all designed and stitched together under varying structural and seismic codes.

Above: This map of Portland International shows how the site is made up of various different, separate buildings. Courtesy of Port of Portland.

It made it near impossible to expand and evolve pretty important features like security checkpoints - particularly important post 9/11. Structural impediments like shear walls and brace frames had to be removed to allow for flexibility, in case of a need for future adaptations.

And so more than $2 billion was spent to modernise the site.

The new terminal, which opened earlier this year, is the biggest public works project in Oregon's history. Not only that, but it’s actually the largest mass timber project of its kind anywhere in the world.

You absolutely can’t underestimate the scale of what’s been undertaken here. But with that said, ZGF Architects and the Port of Portland were keen to make sure PDX still felt accessible and like a part of the city.

That meant bringing the outdoors indoors, to reflect the natural beauty of the state and working with contractors Skanska and Hoffman, that’s what they’ve done.

“The Pacific Northwest is known for its timber background, so we took inspiration from the forest of our region", said George Seaman, project manager for the Terminal Core Redevelopment Project for the Port of Portland. "When people walk around the terminal building, we want them to know that sense of place, that this is the Pacific Northwest and not anywhere else in the country.” 

It took six years to set up a supply chain to source all the wood for the roof and impressively, it was all spruced from within a 300 mile radius of the airport. With mounting budget pressure, a lot of projects focus on importing the cheapest materials from all over the world. Not here, where the focus was on building sustainably using local craft and timber.

Walking through the new terminal once all work is complete, you’d be excused for thinking you’re strolling through the city’s famous Forest Park, rather than rushing to catch a flight.

You’ll see more than 5,000 plants, including fully mature black walnut, ficus and olive trees. They have access to natural sunshine which pours in through the 49 strategically placed skylights. The ceiling is a lattice design spanning nine acres and 600,000 board feet of Douglas fir timber, taken from 11 forests.

Above: Portland International's new roof spans 9 acres and features 49 skylights. Courtesy of Port of Portland.

Coupled with the wooden ceiling, a biophilic approach has been used throughout the terminal for two key reasons. Firstly to sequester carbon emissions and make this project as sustainable as possible but also, a natural space is thought to lower blood pressure, making your travel experience more relaxing.

You might not think of an airport as a calming space but that’s what Portland is trying to achieve.

This was an engineering masterclass

It all sounds great and definitely looks the part. But here’s where things get really interesting: For the entire three years this remodel was taking place - and by the way, it had to be carried out on the exact same site footprint - the airport remained open.

The major renovations had to navigate a live site, operating 500 flights every day - it should have been a logistical nightmare.

But here’s how they did it.

As mentioned, the building skeleton is split into various sections, with the main terminal in the middle and the concourses in the flanks. Key operations like ticketing and security were moved to the front and sides of the building. That allowed for demoing the remainder of the structure behind while keeping the baggage system operational.

Around planes arriving and departing, a section of the airfield became a worksite for pre-constructing that incredible roof. It was crafted into three massive sections, made up of 18 different pieces, with each weighing anywhere from 270,000 to 635,000 kilos. The biggest section stretched more than 40 by 60 metres.

“The roof was built with big 20ftx6ft tall steel box girders on about a 100ft grid. In between those girders was built up with curved glulam beams, then mass timber panels on top of it and roofing on top of that. Underneath it was a series of 3x6 lattice to give the beauty of the roof”, said George Seaman.

To get the roof into position, the sections were separated and drawers slid out from between the girder sections to lift the roof up to 17 metres. They then had to be wheeled for about a mile from its construction site at the end of the runway at about 1 mph. Each section of roof took about three nights to move - one to drive it into starting position, the second night to move it halfway and the final night to get it into position. Once slotted into place, security was able to move into the new building.

Above: The new PDX roof was manoeuvred across the airport taxiway in sections at 1 mph. Courtesy of Port of Portland.

It’s not everyday you see an airport roof, especially of this magnitude, wheeled across an operational taxiway. And of course throughout this, there’s one crucial caveat to building with wood: it does not like getting wet.

Going to all that effort for the roof to expand and not fit into place would have been heartbreaking. But luckily, there was a novel solution as explained by Joe Schneider, senior vice-president at Skanska.

“While we were pre-fabricating the roof, as soon as wood showed up, we’d put a temporary roof on it. We’d put a membrane on to protect it from the elements and that was the primary strategy in keeping it beautiful before we moved it into final position.”

So a roof for the roof. But what if I told you this wasn’t the last problem the team had to overcome?

The area underneath construction wasn’t empty - it was being used for Portland’s baggage system, meaning it was an occupied space. This meant all the fitting work had to happen during terminal downtimes, between midnight and 3:30am.

"Because we were taking these massive roof sections over an occupied space, during the non-down time we had to tie it back in seismically so that if there was an earthquake, the roof didn’t fall on the people down below it" said George Seaman.

Portland is Oregon's most seismically active region, with scientists predicting a 37% chance of a major earthquake in the next 50 years. PDX needs to be ready just in case and it will be. In the event of an earthquake, the whole roof is designed to move as one.

Joe Schneider: “It’s supported on y-columns and on top of each y is a friction pendulum base isolator and so that has been engineered to take the mass at each location. It’s calculated the amount of friction force taken at each location allows it to move exactly as much as it needs to move. The friction part is what holds it in place. This allows for 56 centimetres of movement on the friction pendulums."

That means where the roof touches adjacent surfaces like solid walls and glass, they have to pivot in all directions and that took some pretty special detailing, mock ups and testing.

Astonishingly, it’s all come together and it really does tick off the big three: Stunning, sustainable and hard as nails.

What comes next for PDX?

This has been far from straightforward to engineer but what it’ll mean is Portland International can go about doubling capacity over the coming years. By 2045, it’s hoped 35 million people will travel through here every year and when they do, they’ll be met with a sense of whimsy that sums up the city and this project.

If you’ve been here before, you’ll be familiar with the famous PDX carpet - some would say it’s the most iconic in the world (stiff competition for those found in the UK’s Wetherspoons pubs).

But if you’re worried about missing it, don’t be - it survived the renovations! You’ll find recreated sections of the carpet hidden around the airport in relaxing areas, ready for snapping shoe selfies, if that’s a thing…

All jokes aside, getting to this point has been a monumental effort but work isn’t finished yet. Phase two is already underway. It includes 11 new restaurants and shops, permanent exit lanes, more escalators to baggage claim and cosy areas for when you’re waiting at arrivals. All hoardings will be removed with a completion aim of late 2025.

Above: Phase 2 of work at PDX includes 11 new restaurants and shops, permanent exit lanes, more escalators to baggage claim and cosy areas for when you’re waiting at arrivals. Courtesy of Port of Portland.

Only time will tell if PDX can land itself a spot near the top of the world airport rankings. Either way, there’s no denying that it’s beautiful. A shining example in American aviation and a precedent for the future.

This video and article contain paid promotion for Brilliant. To try everything Brilliant has to offer for free for a full 30 days, visit https://brilliant.org/TheB1M/ you’ll also get 20% off an annual premium subscription.

Video narrated and hosted by Fred Mills. Additional footage and images courtesy of Port of Portland, Skanska, Blacktupelo, KGW News, Tony Webster and Matt from London.

We welcome you sharing our content to inspire others, but please be nice and play by our rules.