Architecture

Seattle airport goes green with stunning timber expansion

View 3 Images
The C Concourse Expansion is designed to offer a relaxing and easy to navigate interior for weary travelers
Courtesy of Woods Bagot and The Miller Hull Partnership
The C Concourse Expansion will increase the capacity of the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport
Courtesy of Woods Bagot and The Miller Hull Partnership
The C Concourse Expansion's interior will be defined by its use of locally sourced Douglas fir wood
Courtesy of Woods Bagot and The Miller Hull Partnership
The C Concourse Expansion is designed to offer a relaxing and easy to navigate interior for weary travelers
Courtesy of Woods Bagot and The Miller Hull Partnership
View gallery - 3 images

Woods Bagot and the Miller Hull Partnership have revealed plans to expand the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport with a sustainably-designed new extension that will be defined by a stunning timber interior made from locally sourced Douglas fir wood.

The C Concourse Expansion has been designed with a lot of thought paid to ensuring weary travelers will be able to find their way around the airport easily. It will add 145,530 sq ft (roughly 13,500 sq m) of dining and retail space, a prayer and meditation area, and a new airline lounge. Its most notable feature though is its interior decor, which is inspired by the local area and will sculpt the Douglas fir into complex curves, creating an eye-catching ceiling, as well as a mezzanine level and multiple seating areas.

"Inspired by the Pacific Northwest, the concourse's interior is an interplay of environments that is defined by both the local energy and a connection to the natural landscape," explained Woods Bagot. "The more active public spaces are designed to reflect the textures and activities of the famous markets in Seattle and the region. A marketplace sits at the center of the concourse with a bar and retail kiosks that frame an open seating area that is also defined by a busker stage for local musicians. This stage faces the Grand Stairs, which provides an activated connection to the restaurants at the mezzanine level."

The C Concourse Expansion's interior will be defined by its use of locally sourced Douglas fir wood
Courtesy of Woods Bagot and The Miller Hull Partnership

The C Concourse Expansion will be owned and operated by the Port of Seattle, which aims to be the greenest port in North America. With this in mind, planned sustainable design features include a roof-based solar array to reduce its draw on the grid by 15 percent, plus a focus on maximizing natural light and reducing solar heat gain with smart glass-based glazing. Energy efficient heating and cooling systems will be used to maintain a comfortable temperature and water usage will be reduced where possible.

The C Concourse Expansion is expected to begin construction in mid-2023 and will be completed in 2027. Its budget currently sits at US$340 million, with a maximum of $500 million.

Sources: Wood Bagot, Miller Hull Partnership, Port of Seattle

View gallery - 3 images
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Flipboard
  • LinkedIn
4 comments
Jinpa
Looks good, but would it withstand a Cascadian-fault earthquake as well as other forms of construction would? Do local building codes make that distinction?
Spud Murphy
More "wood is good" myopia. Wood is only sustainable if it is 100% plantation, grown on previously degraded land. There was no mention of the timber source other than it being local, so if it's from local forests it is in no way sustainable. Sourcing is all-important when it comes to wood's sustainability, this is not info that should be omitted, the article needs to be updated with that info or it's just more greenwashing.
EH
The wood looks good, I like the funnel-pillar. The triangles could have used some indirect lighting in the points so they looked less dark, they also could have done some interesting things with patterns of different shades of stain on different triangles, edges and vertical faces.
aksdad
It's cute. And "locally sourced" is the pretentious and virtuous-sounding euphemism for "timber from Washington State", which is where a lot of timber used in Washington comes from anyway because of the large timber industry there. Incidentally, it's pretty hard to get "locally sourced" timber in Nevada since it's mostly desert. The beauty of capitalism and free markets: we almost always get goods and services in the most efficient (least resource-intensive) ways thanks to competition to keep prices low to attract consumers.