"Raleigh, N.C., Airport Makeover Focuses on Travelers"

Friday, March 19, 2004

Raleigh, N.C., Airport Makeover Focuses on Travelers
By Bruce Siceloff
The Raleigh (NC) News & Observer


Sunny interiors, undulating rooflines and a simple, passenger-friendly
floor scheme will welcome travelers to Raleigh-Durham International
Airport's $350 million replacement for Terminal C, Denver architect
Curtis W. Fentress says.

Fentress gave RDU Authority members their first look Thursday at his
design for a project they envision as an architectural landmark for the
Triangle. He unveiled a large-scale model of the terminal at an RDU
meeting and explained his plans in an interview.

The plans for a new terminal at RDU were presented Thursday.

The terminal will have 28 passenger gates when it is completed in 2009,
and its modular design will allow for expansion to 35 gates. With wide,
open spaces, the 860,000-square-foot building will adapt easily to the
changing needs of airline technology and security procedures, he said.

"It will have large spaces -- very open, airy, filled with daylight,
spaces that are flexible," said Fentress, a Guilford County native and
N.C. State University graduate who heads Colorado's largest
architectural firm, Fentress Bradburn. "If we need to change it
tomorrow, we can; 9-11 is an example of having to change things very
quickly."

Many airports found that support columns and narrow spaces got in the
way when they were required to install new security checkpoints and
baggage inspection machines. Fentress said the new terminal roof at RDU
will be supported with bow trusses -- tension cables attached to ceiling
beams like the string to an archer's bow -- to reduce the need for
columns.

The terminal design features a waving roofline that suggests a wing or
the rolling hills of the Piedmont. Later this year, as the design is
refined to include colors, materials and other details, the terminal
will reflect other qualities of the Triangle region and its heritage,
Fentress said.

Since the opening in 1995 of his Denver International Airport -- which
mimics the snowcapped Rockies in its distinctive, jagged roofline --
Fentress has found worldwide acclaim as an airport architect. In designs
of airports from Korea to Qatar, he says, he tries to capture the
special qualities of the local environment and culture.

And he tries to look out for the often-beleaguered airline passenger.
Fentress considers himself an experienced traveler, but he was
frustrated this week when he flew into RDU's Terminal A.

He found the concourse crowded and cluttered. He had a difficult time
making his way to the baggage claim area.

"I've been in there probably 20 times, and I still got a little
confused," Fentress said. "With the airport the way it is today, even a
seasoned traveler can be thrown off completely. I think that adds a
little bit to the stress."

He tried one door that looked like an exit, but an RDU employee
explained that it was only for disabled passengers. Another employee was
stationed at the next door Fentress tried -- this was only for
passengers entering the concourse.

"The airport has to employ a lot of people just to control how people
move around the building," he said. "The building should be easier to
traverse and to move through than that."

Easy passenger flow is a key element of the new terminal design.
Passengers will get boarding passes and check bags at counters arranged
in islands at the front of the building. At RDU and many other airports,
ticket counters are built along walls at the back of the room.

"In the linear ticketing lobby, like most airports have, you've got
folks coming from the curb to ticketing, and passing through streams of
other passengers who are on their way to somewhere else," said David R.
Powell, RDU's major capital projects director. "This way, there's not so
much cross-traffic."

>From the ticketing islands, passengers continue moving back through the
security checkpoint area, and then into the concourse.

The new terminal concourse will be 20 feet wider than the old Terminal C
concourses, with moving sidewalks for passengers. International
passengers at Terminal C now go through customs and immigration below
the concourse. In the new terminal, after their bags and passports have
been checked, international travelers will emerge in the baggage claim
area at the front of the building.

American Airlines and its American Eagle affiliate will continue service
in the south concourse of Terminal C when construction begins next year
on the first phase of the new terminal. When 19 new gates open in the
north concourse in 2008, the south concourse will be shut down for
renovation. The complete project, with 19 new gates and nine renovated
gates, is scheduled to open in 2009.

RDU officials said Thursday the new building will be called Terminal 2
when it begins operation in 2008, and Terminal A will be renamed
Terminal 1.


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