Published July 07, 2020
More than 4,000 hands, 2,000 builders and 1,500 days — these numbers give you only a glimpse of what it took to bring the vision for Concourse E to life. But the folks who did all the hard work know you can’t easily quantify hustle, grit and passion. And they needed loads of it to get across the finish line.
Over the past four years, a creative community of architects, engineers, construction workers, artisans and artists have worked day and night to build an inviting new home for Southwest Airlines. You might hear insiders call it the “Concourse E extension” because, well, it literally extends Concourse E. But there’s a lot more to this new Pacific Northwest gateway than its humble name might imply.
The result of this collaborative effort is a fresh architectural addition to the Portland International Airport, with sweeping glass walls framing views of Mt. Hood and the Columbia River, and sky-high upper windows filling the space with natural light. As with the rest of PDX, there’s a familiar pedestrian scale, with clusters of new shops and restaurants. (A few of the newcomers include Oregon’s own Tillamook alongside big-name favorite Jamba!)
Completing this milestone PDX Next project was no easy task. For one thing, construction at the airport comes with a bunch of extra logistical challenges. Imagine, for example, trucking materials across the tarmac in the middle of the night, timing the delivery before the first flight in the morning. Or consider the extra steps the artists take in creating work everyone can enjoy and the architects’ job of designing relaxing spaces in the midst of a busy transit hub. The job site got even trickier with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic earlier this year.
But for the wielders, glaziers, electricians, tilers and hundreds of specialists clocking in at PDX, making big stuff happen is simply what they do.
We’ve spent the past few weeks chatting with the pros to get the behind-the-scenes scoop. And we’ve asked dozens more to show us a day in their life or share their proudest moments. Watch the video above to hear the builders in their own words and scroll on for a few of their highlights. *Passes the mic*
Working around the clock: “One of the challenges about working at the airport is that things need to keep running 24/7. You have a very short window of time each day for construction activities that might interrupt daily operations — like midnight until maybe 4 a.m. That means our designs need to consider not only those interruptions but also the layers and layers of technical things that are happening on all fronts. It’s super complicated, which I love.” —Michelle Vo, Hennebery Eddy Architects
Not your normal construction site: “My favorite thing about working at the airport is the site itself. I’ve always loved airplanes. Before I worked here, I’d sometimes park on Marine Drive and watch the planes take off and land. Now being able to drive around on the tarmac and see the planes up close — that’s such a fun part of my job working on Concourse E. It’s not your normal construction site.” —Jermaine Boddie, Skanska
Creativity under constraints: “We knew that working in an airport was going to be hard. We knew that with the scale of the artwork alone. The number of parts was incredibly challenging — 11,000 paper kites with 450 distinct graphics, all descended from the ceiling. And then when all of this happened with COVID, it just became exponentially more difficult.” —Jacob Hashimoto, featured artist
Remote design challenges: “Being in charge of how our brand vision comes to life, I am usually very involved with build-outs. But because of COVID, I wasn't able to visit the construction site. We just had photos, nothing where I could really feel the space. So when we went for the first time in three months, seeing it nearly finished almost brought tears to my eyes. Everything was exactly how it had been drawn. I am just beyond belief about how well everything came out during these really crazy times.” —Audrey Crespo, Tillamook
Feels like a family: “You don't choose your family, right? Well, you don't choose the people that you work with, either. So it's quite a surprise when you can combine people from different backgrounds and different perspectives and everyone operates with such cohesion. It’s just fantastic. I really appreciate the relationships I have with the artists, engineers, contractors and Port personnel. Now that we’re getting to the end, I’m feeling sentimental. You start to think, man, am I going to be missing that!” —Frank Schmidt, Port of Portland
A big round of applause to the dozens of partners that teamed up with the Port of Portland to build Concourse E. Southwest Airlines. Hennebery Eddy Architects. Fentress Architects. Skanska. Jacob Hashimoto. Tillamook County Creamery Association (Tillamook). All About Foods Group (Jamba). Cc McKenzie (Calliope). Paradies Lagardere (Your Northwest Travel Mart). A Cut Above Concrete Cutting. A2 Fabrication. AAI Engineering. ACC Cost Consultants. Air Projects, Inc. Apply-A-Line. Arup North America. Azuri Construction, Inc. Big C Industries. BNP Associates. Boingo . Bratton Masonry. Brundage-Bone Concrete Pumping. Building Material Specialties. City of Roses Disposal and Recycling. Clear Creek Systems, Inc. C.O.A.T. Flagging. Code Unlimited. Coffman. Colors NW. Concrete Placing Company. Convergint Technologies. Cosco Fire Protection. Culver Glass. Dewitt Construction. DiverseWorks. Elite Terminal Services. Facade Group. Faithful Fence, First Inc. Fieldwork. Finish Line Concrete Cutting. Fought & Company. G&S Mechanical. The Greenbusch Group, Inc. GreenKleen. Green Man Construction. GRI. Halliday. Hanset. Harder Mechanical. Harry’s Locksmith & Key Service. HLB Lighting Design. HNTB. Interface Engineering. Interior Exterior Specialists. Interior Technology. Iris Window Coverings. ISEC. ISG. Izor. JH Kelly. Johnson Controls. J2J. JBT. Just Right Heating & Cooling. K2. Key Electrical Construction, Inc. Kodiak Pacific Construction. KPFF Consulting Engineers. Lakeside Industries. Landry. Land Surveying, Inc. Lara’s Construction, LLC. LaRusso Concrete. Legend Custom Woodworking. LG Contractors Inc. Leigh Fisher. Lerch Bates. Mark Adams Electric. Mayer Reed. McKinstry. NessCampbell Crane + Rigging. Neudorfer. Northwest Scaffold Service, Inc. NWESI. OEG. O’Neill Construction Group. PBS Engineering and Environmental, Inc. Performance Abatement Services, Inc. Performance Contracting, Inc. Pioneer Waterproofing. Portland Coatings. Priority One Inspections. Professional Lath and Plaster. Professional Roof Consultants. PSI. Pure Floors. Ramsay Signs. Reality Documentation Solutions. REFA Erection, Inc. Regional Arts & Culture Council. Richard Graves. RLB. Rubenstein’s. RWDI. Schindler Elevator Corp. SFS, Inc. Skanska Concrete. Siemens. Sign Wizards. Snyder. Stantec. Staton Companies. Stonhard. Storie & Associates, Inc. Storie Barriers. Streimer Sheet Metal Works, Inc. Stryker Construction. Studio NYL. Tad Savinar. TerraCalc. Todd Hess Building Company. Top End Terrazzo. Town & Country Fence. Valgreen Painting, LLC. Veteran Electric. Vizwerks. WDI Co. of Oregon. Western Rebar. WFJ, Worksystems Inc. Zana Construction Company.
Here's what this year will look like for PDX (and you!)
For the past year, we've built a nine-acre roof on a prefabrication lot to the northwest of the airport. The construction crews are now installing the last component—an intricate wood lattice, sourced from sustainable Northwest forests, that will eventually cover the interior ceiling.
What you'll see: If you drive along Marine Boulevard, you can glimpse the roof's dramatic swoops in the prefab lot.
Behind all those partitions in the pre-security area, construction crews have been hollowing out the back half of the main terminal. Starting in March, the exterior structure is also coming down to create a more open, spacious footprint. It may get noisy for a few months!
What you'll see: Not much, in fact. But when you’re in the ticket lobby and going through security, you may hear and feel what’s happening on the other side of those partitions. We're strategizing ways to counteract the sound, including free earplugs at the front doors and a sensory room in Concourse D.
Next, we’re erecting 34 giant steel Y-shaped columns to hold up the roof. Right now, construction crews are driving steel pilings deep into the ground to anchor these columns. Over the course of a few months, we’ll erect the Y columns one by one.
What you'll see: You probably won't notice—most are going up overnight behind the temporary walls. Late-night travelers will occasionally have to walk a few yards around an installation site.
Once the biggest section of the wood roof is fully assembled, the project team will break it back down into 20 "cassettes". During the summer and fall, Hoffman-Skanska and Mammoet will maneuver each cassette into place over the existing roof. It will take several days to place each cassette, and the work will happen overnight — depending on the section we’re placing, we may guide late-night travelers around a short detour.
What you'll see: Unless you're flying into PDX on a late-night flight, or camped out on Marine Drive at 2 a.m., you won't see much. If you walk to the ends of Concourse C or Concourse D and look back toward the main terminal, you'll catch a glimpse of the airport's new roofline.
In addition to the big projects, you’ll see a host of new amenities appear throughout the airport. A new play area in Concourse E. New art. New restaurants and cafes. (Lardo! Screen Door! Good Coffee!) You're almost guaranteed to encounter something new every time you visit the airport — and we're not talking barricades.
The flexible interior spaces were designed with the future of travel in mind — and to give you plenty of comfortable spots to recharge before your next flight.
Two permanent installations from acclaimed contemporary artist Jacob Hashimoto hang like clouds above the concourse’s common areas.
Shops and restaurants are clustered together like city blocks, with a pedestrian-friendly scale and lots of room to spread out.
Artist Jacob Hashimoto’s canopy of kite-like discs reflects the atmosphere of the Pacific Northwest, with locally inspired graphics incorporated throughout.
Sky-high windows fill the interior with daylight while maximizing the concourse extension’s energy efficiency.
At the east end of the concourse, a wall of windows opens up this epic view of Mt. Hood, where you’ll definitely want to pose for a photo before takeoff.
The Concourse E extension project is the dedicated home for Southwest Airlines at PDX, with six new gates.
Remember the view of Mt. Hood on Concourse E? It’s coming back, brighter than ever.
Tillamook’s menu includes the best of the classics with fried cheese curds and a signature grilled cheese.
Calliope takes its name from one of Oregon’s native hummingbirds and showcases creative and playful keepsakes.
Grab your favorite book, magazine or newspaper at Your Northwest Travel Mart.
Remember the feeling of walking through an Oregon forest for the first time?
That feeling inspired the design of the new Concourse B.
An early movement flow study for the new Concourse B.
The new Concourse B has great exposure to southern light.
Interior rendering for the new Concourse B.
The new Concourse B has Pacific Northwest touches like warm wood panels and indoor greenery.
Exterior rendering of the new Concourse B.
The six new ground loading gates for Alaska Airlines are bigger and brighter.
All rental car brands are now on-site at PDX – no more shuttles to pick up your car.
Our new rental car center opened in November 2021.
Perez Westbrooks' colorful digital mural celebrates Northwest flora.
Ben Butler's swirling wood sculpture is made from reclaimed Douglas fir.
The new facility also adds 30 ADA parking spots, more than 30 electric vehicle charging stations, and 2,200 long-term parking spaces to the airport.
More lanes in our new and relocated exit toll plaza help passengers out of PDX faster.
Every design decision we make is about keeping the heart and soul of PDX intact. You’ll see homages to all the things you love about our city and region in the new airport designs.
The new terminal’s wooden roof (as seen in this close-up rendering, right) might remind you of daylight filtering through forest canopies.
You’ll notice subtle nods to Pacific Northwest elements throughout the new space. The ripples and currents of our pristine rivers, for example, are inspiring the undulating flow of the wooden roof, as depicted in this architectural model (right).
We’re filling the new main terminal with a lot of Portland love — both in terms of regionally sourced materials and, well, doughnuts. (C’mon, what would PDX be without doughnuts?)
You’ll see a scene something like this when you enter the more spacious ticket lobby at PDX. This early architectural rendering previews the vision for the iconic wooden roof — inspired by Pacific Northwest nature, craft and our partly sunny skies.
Natural light, living trees and native Oregon foliage might give you the feeling of walking through a park, as this early architectural rendering shows.
Expanding the heart of the airport creates more spaces for the local shops and restaurants you love. Architects are thoughtfully planning these public spaces to resemble the human-friendly scale of your favorite Portland neighborhoods.
Tom Strong - Chief Executive Officer, Skokomish Indian Tribe, Skokomish Washington
"We're foresters in that we're stewards," says Tom Strong, Chief Executive Officer of the Skokomish Indian Tribe, which manages 2,000 acres of Washington forests for its 800 tribal members. "We're not cutting and planting, seeking to develop our lands into a commodity. Instead, we're doing it to restore the forest."
Over the past 100 years, the two dams on the North Fork Skokomish River have had a major impact on the entire ecosystem of Skokomish land. "We want to restore the entire Hood Canal watershed," Tom says. The forests are just one part.
Selling wood from Douglas fir trees the tribe selectively thinned will help fund this restoration. "We don't have an endless amount of money," Tom says. "But we would like to think we've got an endless amount of time."
Ben Hayes - Co-owner, Hyla Woods, Cherry Grove, Oregon
Ben Hayes is a sixth-generation forester who manages Hyla Woods, outside Cherry Grove, Oregon, with his father, Peter. He is also a sustainable-forestry consultant. At Hyla Woods, the Hayes experiment with selective thinning and patch cutting, instead of clear-cutting, to foster diversity of tree species, ages, and sizes.
"When you look 100 years out, having greater complexity in terms of species and the structure of the forest, you can increase the forest's resilience in the face of extreme weather and drought," he says.
"We're working toward a model of forestry that you could practice for the perpetual future,” Ben says. “It's a model that lifts up both rural and urban communities and the ecosystems we rely on."
Richard and Ann Hanschu - Owners, Doneen, Forest Grove, Oregon
Ann Hanschu's father first bought land outside Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1956. Ann grew up trailing her father around the forest, learning from him. The Hanschus now have three children, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Richard says, "We're planting trees that our grandchildren will see the profits from — not even our children. It's long-range thinking."
"A lot of the timber is older,” Ann adds. “We're laddering it with trees of different age groups — some 30-40 years old, some 10-20 years old — so the land can continue to produce a sustainable amount of wood."
Herman Flamenco - Central Cascades Conservation Forester, The Nature Conservancy, Cle Elum, Washington
"We know historically that the stands we're working on were overstocked," says Herman Flamenco, Central Cascades conservation forester for the Nature Conservancy, of the 50,000 acres outside Cle Elum, Washington, the organization manages. Thinning the trees welcomes in light and biodiversity.
Some loggers in the region worry that this low-impact approach to forestry yields less lumber, and less profit, than clear-cutting. One local outfit took on this labor-intensive challenge, selectively harvesting Doug fir trees from steep slopes.
"Western Washington is wetter. In our dry climate, there's less moisture and increased fire risk," Herman says. "As we look at climate change, it's just going to get dryer. We want to make sure we can keep our forests around."
In the 1950s, back when people wore fancy hats to the airport, PDX’s main terminal had brown terrazzo floors.
By the 1970s, blue carpet sporting the old Port of Portland logo replaced the terrazzo. The airport was so concerned about keeping the carpet clean that we banned gum-chewing indoors.
In the 1980s, PDX replaced the ski-chalet paneling in the Clocktower Plaza with high ceilings and skylights, but kept the blue carpet.
SRG Partnership, a Portland-based architecture firm, designed the pattern for the now-iconic carpet on the layout of the airport runways.
The Clocktower Plaza, post-1988, with the iconic carpet.
The Clocktower Plaza (before its demolition in 2021-22) with the new carpet.