HOK to Design Dulles Airport Expansion

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) has chosen HOK to design a significant enlargement to Washington Dulles Worldwide Airport in Northern Virginia. Persevering with the airport’s Tier 2 concourse improvement program, which started final fall with the beginning of building of the preliminary 435,000-sq-ft, 14-gate part by Turner Building Co., the challenge will add one other 1.735 million sq ft that features 22 new gates for worldwide flights and a brand new 176,000-sq-ft federal inspection providers facility.

HOK additionally will design a brand new central utility plant for airport infrastructure, upgrades to ramp management methods and baggage dealing with providers and the preliminary 1.13-million-sq-ft part of a separate “Tier 3” concourse. The Dulles AeroTrain will hyperlink the brand new amenities with the airport’s essential terminal and different concourses.

The concourses are a part of a $7-billion bundle of facility infrastructure investments that the airport expects to finish through the subsequent 15 years. Funding for the $500-million preliminary part, known as Tier 2 (East) and slated for completion in late 2026, is being supplied partly by a $40-million grant awarded below the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Regulation.

Whereas HOK is scheduled to ship its design with a watch towards starting building in 2026, an MWAA spokesperson says no schedule has been set for choosing a building group.

Justin Wortman, HOK’s regional aviation and transportation chief, says the enlargement helps place Dulles Airport for achievement for the subsequent 40-50 years.

“It should improve Dulles’ airside features, future-proof the power, enhance its flexibility, and create stunning and open passenger areas that elevate the traveler expertise,” Wortman provides.

In line with HOK, the Tier 2 concourse enlargement will seamlessly combine with the preliminary part, making certain a clean and intuitive passenger expertise that can present readability for passengers, significantly these touring abroad.

“Because the entrance door to the Nation’s Capital, we need to create an elevated expertise for each arriving and departing worldwide passengers,” says HOK Design Principal Peter Ruggiero. He provides that alongside reflecting the status and expectations of Washington, D.C. and the Nationwide Capital area, “we’re additionally incorporating present developments in worldwide arrivals processing to streamline passenger circulate and improve operational effectivity.”

To assist MWAA’s sustainability objectives, Ruggiero says the HOK group additionally will determine the best design options that enhance power effectivity and resilience.

As metropolitan Washington’s major hub for abroad flights, Dulles visitors has rebounded for the reason that 2020 pandemic. Final 12 months noticed the airport deal with a document 10.38 million worldwide passengers, an 11% improve over 2023’s complete. Dulles at the moment operates 113 gates, practically half of that are situated in 550,000-sq-ft Concourse C/D, constructed greater than 40 years in the past and envisioned as a short lived facility till everlasting concourses may very well be constructed.   

Even because the airport builds new amenities geared towards mid-21^st century journey, Wortman says Finnish architect Eero Saarinen’s distinctive authentic essential terminal constructing, opened in 1962, will stay a design touchstone.

“Our purpose is to create the subsequent technology of nice airport structure, studying from Saarinen’s ideas whereas evolving them for contemporary wants,” Wortman says.