Celebrating Oregon’s natural history and vernacular materials, Portland International Airport’s main terminal expansion enlists biophilic architecture to boost air-traveller wellbeing.
Designed by ZGF Architects, the expanded terminal reimagines the airport interior as a forest, aimed at increasing passengers’ comfort and reducing travel-related stress. A vast 36,420-sq-m timber roof connects nine previously separated buildings, comprising 49 skylights. Expansive glass windows along the terminal’s shell fuse the surrounding landscape with the interior. Wayfinding pathways are lined with seven-m-tall trees endemic to the area and over 5,000 plants. Brought to life by thousands of local craftspeople using locally sourced materials, ZGF’s design strategy centres humanistic and environmental concerns. The nature-infused design crafts a sense of place which opposes the liminality normally associated with airports, targeting user wellbeing and climate concerns in a progressive vision of future terminal design. ‘With the new PDX, we wanted travellers to know they were in the Pacific Northwest before they even left the airport,’ says Vince Granato, Chief Projects Officer at the Port of Portland. ‘And for locals, we wanted it to feel like home.’
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