After 10 years on the project, it’s been a surreal few weeks watching the passengers and employees experience and immediately fall in love with the new PDX airport terminal. And it was extra special to be there the morning of opening day with my daughter. Amongst all of the excitement, I have been reflecting on the great team and all of the stories of innovation in design, engineering, and construction that made this possible.
It has been amazing to see so many experts working together to build this new terminal on top of the existing operational airport; doubling passenger capacity with only a 40% bigger area, while cutting the energy intensity in half; creating a delightful and resilient building that embodies the Pacific Northwest.
I want to thank the Port of Portland for being a great client who set ambitious goals, developed guiding principles, and created an environment for great things to happen. It is wonderful to have a client with a long-term vision, who trusts and appreciates their consultants, and actively contributes to the design process.
ZGF Architects created and delivered on an amazing design vision, KPFF Consulting Engineers engineered an elegant and resilient structure, and Hoffman Construction Company Skanska JV came up with innovative construction strategies to build this over an operating terminal. I really appreciate our MEPT engineering partnership with Arup. It was fun to collaborate with another great engineering firm.
Thank you to the 135+ people at PAE | LUMA Lighting Design who contributed to the project, along with the small, minority and women owned businesses who partnered with us to deliver this new terminal (and the enabling projects that made it possible), including: dbc architecture inc., Studio Petretti Architecture , Merryman Barnes Architects, K2, Inc., Samata Consulting Engineers (Jenny Streb), Bantam Mechanical Engineering (Christine McKinley, P.E.), Practical Integrated Design (Ron Bayles), Staheli Trenchless Consultants, ADCOMM Engineering LLC, and ProtoCAD (Todd Given).
I also want to recognize our construction trade partners whose collaboration throughout the entire project ensured success:
Arctic Sheet Metal
Convergint
COSCO Fire Protection
Harder Mechanical Contractors, Inc.
Integrated Systems Group
Johnson Controls
OEG, Inc.
O'Neill Construction (Maurice Rahming)
But the work is not done. Stay tuned for the 2026 opening of the next phase of work.
#PDXNext #PAE
