Portland Airport’s $2 billion renovation combines lots of glass with natural beauty

An expansive 36,000-square-foot wood-beamed ceiling with 49 skylights that filter sunlight greets passengers as they enter the newly opened Portland International Airport (PDX). Designed by ZGF Architects, the renovated main terminal is notable for capturing the beauty of Oregon’s wilderness and blending nature and architecture.

ZGF officials say the $2.15 billion renovation of PDX was designed to make it feel like walking through a Pacific Northwest forest. The terminal features lots of wood and glass. The glass provides views of the sky and airfield, natural light and interior decorations, such as two 56-foot-long by 11-foot-tall glass walls featuring designs by artist Yoonhee Choi. Choi’s glass works mix colorful, playful shapes with intentionally open space to create opportunities for interpretation.

Officials say the terminal expansion is the largest mass timber construction project of its kind. The curved roof was prefabricated and is made from 3.5 million board feet of Douglas fir sourced from regional family forests, non-profit organizations and tribal peoples. According to Christian Schoewe, director at ZGF, teams glued sections of the roof timber together to form the main beams, reducing the project’s carbon footprint. It was built west of the airport terminal and divided into 20 modules that were moved and assembled on prefabricated columns.

Spread across the roof are skylights by DeaMor Associates, some round, some oval, and some letting in sunlight that is deflected by curved wooden beams that mimic tree branches. Jacob Dunn, assistant director at ZGF, says several skylights are frosted and have grilles underneath, reminiscent of a cloudy morning in a coastal forest, designed to protect ticket clerks from direct sunlight.

According to DeaMor, the skylights are made of 32,000 square feet of low-iron, high-efficiency and low-E insulated glass using four different types of glass. Each skylight has been negative pressure air and water infiltration tested twice on-site to AAMA 503 and passed both times.

Sustainability and comfort for residents were key issues for ZGF during the design phase. For example, the people at Benson Glass and Curtainwall explained that when designing the building’s façade, ZGF wanted to reduce direct sunlight from the outside by 20-30% and from the inside by 15-30%, without compromising the view through the large glass surfaces.

To do this, Benson installed large extruded aluminum louvers on the exterior and an extruded aluminum sunshade on the interior to provide glare control. To further improve energy efficiency, the 30-foot-tall curtain walls feature mullions designed as an exoskeleton to reduce heat transfer. Curtain walls typically lose energy through metal mullions; the exoskeleton allows for tighter seals throughout the system. The terminal also features a new glass entrance canopy that guides visitors into the terminal and features Viracon’s VE1-2M insulated glass.

Overall, the terminal achieves a 50% reduction in energy consumption per square meter with an all-electric geothermal heat pump. And thanks to a large area of ​​glass, 60% of the terminal is exposed to daylight. There is so much natural light that ZGF reduced the number of artificial lights by 50% below city regulations.

Robust construction strategies also allow the terminal to withstand a magnitude 9.0 earthquake. ZGF officials say the curtain wall is designed to hang from the perimeter beams, allowing the roof and walls to sway 56 centimeters free from the columns and panels.

Exterior cladding: Morin (metal panels); McGrory Glass (glass mounting system); Benson Industries, Arcadia (curtain wall); and McKinstry (exterior solar shading)

Glazing: Carey Glass, Glas Trösch, Viracon

Skylights: DeaMor