With global air travel increasing dramatically in the next decade, today's airport projects face challenges related to adaptability, operational efficiency, security and sustainability — along with ever-increasing consumer expectations. In response, many aviation leaders turn to a powerful resource: the creative experts at BuroHappold. 

Recent works by BuroHappold show how airports are becoming iconic lifestyle destinations, and how the aviation industry increasingly relies on robotics, high-tech security systems such as biometrics, and more self-service kiosks and automated services. BuroHappold’s U.S. team can illustrate these trends in a number of useful case studies around the world. Many projects also show how airports can become healthy and iconic architectural expressions -- such as The Jewel in Singapore with its indoor waterfall and gardens -- while reducing energy use and allowing for future growth. 

“Airports are expressions of cultural connectivity, so successful aviation projects today engage with their surroundings, embrace flexibility, and tread lightly on the environment,” says Patti Harburg-Petrich, a principal at BuroHappold and leader of the firm’s aviation practice in the U.S. "With data-driven, science-based research and engineering methods, we’re able to help transportation leaders plan for the future and enrich the passenger experience, demonstrating that green solutions, lower ongoing costs, and world-class design can all exist together.”

With a portfolio of more than 100 airport projects around the world, BuroHappold’s transdisciplinary aviation team draws on a wide range of skills and can speak to all aspects of airport planning and design — including structural engineering, wellness strategies, accessibility, computational design, and energy and security policy.

Details on notable recent work by BuroHappold follows below. 

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Beijing Daxing International Airport — Designing for sustainability 

To reach Beijing Daxing International Airport's ambitious sustainability goals — while achieving Zaha Hadid Architects' stunning and complex structural form — BuroHappold’s integrated engineering approach emphasized passive design elements including shading strategies, high-performance glazing, advanced ventilation methods, and carefully placed roof lights that optimize the energy performance of the terminal. These solutions result in a predicted 50% reduction in overall energy consumption and CO2 emissions at the 7.5-million-square-foot airport, which opened earlier this fall and is anticipated to serve 75 million passengers annually by 2025.

Pittsburgh International Airport — Right-sizing to boost operational efficiency and occupant wellness

As part of a new Terminal Modernization Program, BuroHappold is helping reinvent Pittsburgh’s airport — still heavily trafficked but no longer a major national hub — by making it smaller, more efficient, and more cost-effective. Working closely with the design team of Gensler + HDR in association with luis vidal + architects, BuroHappold's advanced computational design expertise identified strategies for reducing the number of gates, repurposing existing terminal spaces, and eliminating the Automated People Mover system. BuroHappold’s engineering and energy modeling analysis also supports the project's emphasis on integrating nature, technology and community to set a new standard for occupant wellness in airport design. 

Los Angeles International Airport — New building methods for flexibility and smart growth

Part of a multibillion-dollar modernization and expansion program to provide more flexibility for travelers, BuroHappold is working with architects Woods Bagot to design and engineer a new 120,000-square-foot domestic concourse at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Known as the Midfield Satellite Concourse (MSC) South, this eight-gate, two-story facility uses innovative pre-engineered structural systems, which will aid in building the new gates quickly and with minimal impact to ongoing airport operations. The MSC South structure will connect to a new North concourse, also under construction as an extension to the Tom Bradley International Terminal. All of these projects are scheduled for completion before Los Angeles hosts the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Jewel Changi Airport — Transforming the airport experience

Highlighted by the world’s tallest indoor waterfall and a translucent, ovoid-shaped gridshell roof spanning 650 feet across, Jewel Changi Airport extends one of the world’s busiest aviation facilities beyond a mere transit hub to include a civic plaza and marketplace. All publicly accessible and linked to airport terminals and Singapore’s public transit, the building’s architectural design by Safdie Architects combines retail, restaurants, a hotel, and expansive indoor garden and leisure facilities. BuroHappold harnessed the power of big data in developing the structure for this monumental building, taking on advanced computational analysis to realize the nearly column-free interior and create a completely unique destination that shifts the concept of an airport’s role within its community.