American studios Gensler and HDR, with Spanish studio Luis Vidal + Architects, referenced the hills and foliage of Western Pennsylvania when creating a terminal building for Pittsburgh's international airport.

The airport was in need of a new landside terminal for the airport, as the prior configuration featured a building that was disconnected from the X-shaped gate structure and required a people-mover to shuttle people between the check-in areas and the gates.

HDR, Gensler and Luis Vidal created a landside terminal for Pittsburgh International Airport. Photo by Wendell Weithers

The new structure, which the studios collaborated on, is three storeys high and placed in one of the voids between the terminal's arms. It is capped by a metal roof that is raised in parts, creating clerestory windows.

Luis Vidal + Architects studio founder Luis Vidal said that he moved to Pittsburgh for an extended stay during the project and was taken with the rolling hills of the Allegheny Mountains and the region's foliage.

It has a massive cantilevered awning that covers the top-level drop-off

The hills found their way into design in those rolling rooftop forms, while the foliage was expressed in the heterogeneous structural steel columns that support the massive overhang of the roof as it cantilevers over the entry programme.

"The terminal is conceived almost as a pavilion set within the landscape," Vidal told Dezeen.

"The expansive woodlands and the rolling Allegheny Mountains are echoed in the building's sweeping, undulating roof and in the treelike form of the 38 unique, architecturally exposed steel (AESS) columns that support it," continued Vidal.

He added that the copper colour of the columns recalls "the way sunlight filters through the canopy and shines on fallen leaves".

The columns were influenced by local foliage

This undulating ceiling effect continues inside, as do the columns. The wooden soffit of the roof, both inside and outside the terminal, was embedded with lights that aim to reflect the star-filled sky of the region.

Expressive copper-coloured columns were also placed through this top level, which features the departure programme.

The columns and wood soffit of the cantilever continue inside

Security has been streamlined, focusing all traffic into a single area that lets out into a newly created skybridge that connects to the iconic, scallop-roofed central atrium of the airside terminal.

This bridge has a spiral of jagged forms with concealed lighting that can change the light depending on the time of day.

Gensler's Pittsburgh studio director, Carolyn Sponza, said that one of the main motivations for the design was the changing needs of the airport, which had seen a drop off in connecting traffic after a major airline de-hubbed from the city in the 1990s.

Since then, the airport has seen much more direct traffic, leading to the need for the update.

The new building is closer to the gates than the previous departure programme

Sponza told Dezeen that one of the primary aims was to "right-size" the airport, bringing the terminal closer.

"One of the main drivers was limiting walking distance in the new building," said Sponza. "So that's why the decision was made to sort of get those two as close as possible together."

Another consideration was balancing the "aspirational experience" of travellers with the "nuts and bolts" operations of people working in the airport.

Gensler worked to rationalise the baggage claim system on the middle level, making it easier for luggage to find its way from the gates.

"We had to balance those things all at once," Sponza said.

A colour-changing skybridge connects to the airside terminal

The airport opened to travellers late last year and includes a modernisation of the airside facilities. It is unclear what will happen to the old terminal building on the grounds.

Vidal has collaborated on several airports internationally. Most recently, in the United States, he topped an aspect of Boston's airport with a red shell.

He said that airports will increasingly become civic buildings as architects' approaches change.

"The next generation of airports is increasingly conceived as civic buildings, welcoming not only travellers but the broader public as well," said Vidal.

Meanwhile, Gensler is working on an international terminal at JFK in New York City.

The photography is by Ema Peter unless otherwise stated.

Project credits:

Architectural support: Architectural Innovations Acoustic design: Cerami/Trinity Consultants Local artisan/craft business liaison: Monmade Public art consulting: Renee Piechocki Baggage handling system design: BNP Associates Concession planning: CPI Australia Code consulting: Simpson Gumpertz and Heger Cost estimation: AtkinsRéalis (formerly Faithful and Gould); Connico; Crawford Consulting Facade consulting: Front Irrigation consulting: Carter Design Group Landscape architecture: OJB Landscape Architecture Landscape architecture support: UpStudio Lighting design: Fisher Marantz Stone 3D visualization: Illustrate My Design; Neoscape MEP Engineer: Buro Happold MEP/fire protection support: ED3 Consultants MEP and sustainability consulting support: Advantus Engineers MEP/fire protection support: Allen + Shariff o Electrical Engineering Support: Sigma Associates Fire alarm/IT/paging/telecom/security: Burns Engineering Passenger boarding bridges/aircraft logistics: Aero Systems Engineering Site and infrastructure engineering: Monaloh Basin Engineers Structural engineering & sustainability consulting: Thornton Tomasetti Structural engineering support: Navarro and Wright