"RDU's Terminal C envisioned as icon"

Monday, November 4, 2002

RDU's Terminal C envisioned as icon 
By VICKI HYMAN
The Raleigh (NC) News & Observer


Paris has its Eiffel Tower and Sydney its waterfront opera house. The
Triangle could have Terminal C. 

Seriously.

Raleigh-Durham International Airport officials had more than efficiency
and capacity in mind when they hired an internationally renowned
architectural firm to lead the makeover of the old American Airlines
hub, which will nearly triple the size of the terminal and add 10 new
gates.

They wanted to transform Terminal C into a landmark, an architectural
signature in a region littered with strip malls and sprawling office
complexes. They signed up Fentress Bradburn Architects of Denver,
designers of the acclaimed Denver International Airport, whose
white-tented roof echoes the snow-capped Rocky Mountains and glows in
the night.

"Raleigh-Durham Airport is a gateway," said Bob Winston, Raleigh's
appointee to the Airport Authority, "and it should say something about
our community."

No one knows yet what it will say. But lead architect Curt Fentress, a
North Carolina native and N. C. State University graduate, will look for
inspiration here.

Fentress, in a broad-shouldered suit with chalky yellow stripes,
recently addressed a group of more conservatively attired airport
officials and engineers working on the project.

He showed slides of his firm's work at airports around the globe. A new
terminal at Doha International Airport in the Persian Gulf nation of
Qatar will showcase an arching roof with masts inspired by local fishing
craft. The redesign of Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's central
terminal incorporates elements of Seattle's famed outdoor markets, with
large expanses of glass to bring the outdoors in.

Then, a series of images captured around the Triangle flickered behind
him: the red-brick facade of Durham's Brightleaf Square, the NCSU Bell
Tower, a child enjoying an afternoon at the State Fair, a man fishing, a
scientist working.

They capture facets of life in the Triangle, but coming up with a single
image evoking the Triangle's distinct communities will be challenging,
said architect John L. Atkins III, president of O'Brien/Atkins
Associates. His firm and The Freelon Group, both based in Research
Triangle Park and both of which having designed other RDU projects, will
collaborate with Fentress Bradburn on Terminal C.

"I think it's going to be an interesting input of dialogue for the
authority as to how do we view ourselves in the region," he said. "I
don't know how that yet will unfold."

The Airport Authority approved a $1.4 million interim agreement with the
firms to work with other consultants on such requirements as the number
of ticketing counters and the size of the security checkpoints. The
architects and RDU are negotiating another, more expensive contract to
actually design the renovation and expansion. Airport officials won't
say how much they expect to pay the architects.

A final budget on the project's design and construction won't be
released until January, although the cost will probably top $100
million. RDU has asked the Federal Aviation Administration for
permission to add a $3 ticket surcharge to help pay for the renovation.
More money could come from revenue bonds and federal grants.

The architects will spend about a year coming up with the design of the
terminal building. Construction could begin by late next year, with
completion in late 2007.

Design plus utility

The hiring of Fentress Bradburn cements a shift for the airport, in
which design is placed on an equal plane with utility.

For years, that wasn't the case. RDU grew slowly until 1987, when
American Airlines opened its hub. Until then, the airport made do with a
hodgepodge of buildings, such as Terminal A, a boxy, blue-walled
structure designed without flourish so it could be converted into a
hangar for corporate jets one day.

Terminal C, opened in 1987, does have a distinctive, sloping red roof
meant to evoke flight; it was designed by Philip G. Freelon, one of the
architects now charged with remaking the building.

But RDU officials didn't put a premium on looks then, because the
terminal was built to serve connecting passengers who wouldn't venture
out of the concourse. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport is one of
the busiest in the world, for example, but how many travelers know what
it looks like on the outside?

In the Triangle, the hub is now gone. RDU has gained control of the
building and wants to move airlines from aging, crowded Terminal A to a
more modern facility, and the passengers using the renovated terminal
will be starting and ending their trips there.

"Those are very significant changes in how the building's function and
space is utilized," Freelon said. "It would be analogous to saying, 'Now
I would like to use my sedan as a pickup truck.'"

In early December, Fentress will lead several Airport Authority members
on a tour of cutting-edge airports -- two or more a day -- around the
country, exploring their architecture and utility, from security to
baggage handling to ticket queuing.

"We want it to look nice, but we want it to be very user-friendly and
very efficient," said authority member Robert D. Teer Jr. of Durham.

That should be the Airport Authority's primary concern, said Frank
Harmon, a Raleigh architect and associate professor at the NCSU College
of Design.

"They can go and make it look like the Eiffel Tower as far as I'm
concerned, but as long as it's safe and convenient and pleasant to use,
that's what I'm interested in," he said.

"What's important about our region is our climate, our landscape and our
people. Just give us an airport that introduces those things without
making it look like something else."
 
OPENS: Early 2005

PASSENGER TRAFFIC, 2001: 27 million

RANKING: 17th-busiest in the United States.

TERMINAL SIZE: 175,000 square-foot addition

CONSTRUCTION COST: $72 million

FEATURES: A 65-foot-tall, 300-foot-long glass curtain, granite floors
and custom light fixtures that recall outdoor lampposts bring to mind
Seattle's outdoor marketplaces.

OPENED: February 1995

PASSENGER TRAFFIC, 2001: 36 million

RANKING: Fifth-busiest in the United States.

TERMINAL SIZE: 1.5 million square feet

CONSTRUCTION COST: $455 million

FEATURES: A white, Teflon-coated roof held in place by 34 masts that
echo the peaks and valleys of the nearby Rocky Mountains and flood the
terminal with natural daylight.  

Attached Photo's:

RDU Terminal C

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