Designers have unveiled their vision for the new main terminal at PDX. This early rendering shows the more spacious ticket lobby, which optimizes for wellbeing and passenger flow.
Quick update: This article was written in 2020. The new PDX is here! Want to meet it?
Fast forward to 2025: You’ve just landed at PDX and it’s your first time stepping into the new main terminal, as insiders often call the airport’s central hub. As you glimpse the bright space, you spot details that already feel familiar: Soft daylight filters through the wooden roof, almost like light filtering through a forest canopy. People gather in common areas that look more like city parks. And in almost every corner, you see touches of Oregon’s signature greenery.
If you get a little déjà vu, that’s by design. The sight of our region’s landscapes — and the calm it often brings — is a key inspiration for the architects working on the new main terminal. That’s according to Sharron van der Meulen, managing partner in the Portland office of ZGF.
“The inspiration we really looked to in the beginning was of the place, the natural environment, the really unique regions that we live in,” says Sharron, the lead designer for the project.
The new terminal's nature-infused interiors (and earthquake-resilient structure) emphasize our big goals: doubling down on health, wellbeing and safety. This milestone expansion will give us the flexibility to adapt to new technology and plenty of space to welcome the growing number of passengers we expect to see in the coming decades.
Here’s a quick preview of what’s inspiring these new PDX designs.
Taking a cue from our favorite trails
If you’re anything like the architects working with the airport, you probably spend a lot of your free time outside. (Hey, you might even have a few favorite trails in common.) With forests covering nearly half the state of Oregon, it feels like nature is everywhere we turn. It’s no surprise, then, that the new main terminal will bring elements of the great outdoors even closer to PDX. You see this especially in the most prominent design feature: the regionally sourced wooden roof. An homage to our region’s spirit of craftsmanship, the undulating roof stretches across the expanded lobby and ticket areas, with thoughtfully placed skylights mimicking sunrays peeking through evergreen trees.
What’s behind the new designs? Architects say the inspiration comes from the region’s many parks and the natural environments of the Pacific Northwest. (Credit: Thomas Shahan, left)
A little like Portland’s city blocks
Can you guess the typical size of Portland’s city blocks? If you answered 200 feet square, you might be an urban planner. Local urbanists like to talk about the density of our street grid — that’s because our relatively small blocks make Portland more walkable and compact than many other American cities. It’s one of the reasons our neighborhoods are fun to explore on foot.
Designs for the new main terminal take inspiration from the human-friendly scale of Portland’s blocks and the rhythm of your favorite neighborhoods. Expect to see independent storefronts clustered together along a tree-lined “street,” musicians strumming guitars on the corner and cafe seating spilling out onto patios. It’s PDX, inspired by the Portland places you love.
Look to Portland’s walkable neighborhoods and leafy streets for a sense of the future PDX experience. The new main terminal will have a familiar urban feel, with plenty of local shops and relaxing green spaces. (Credits: Justin Katigbak/Travel Portland, top left and right)
Designed with a sense of place
You might hear some of the leaders of this project mention "biophilic design." It's a concept that confirms what many Oregonians know intuitively: Introducing nature and natural elements into interior spaces can help reduce your blood pressure and make you feel more at ease. We’re doing that with the new main terminal design — incorporating leafy foliage, organic shapes and colors, and natural materials and finishes.
We want your future experiences at PDX to feel easy and relaxing. So in the new terminal, you’ll see plant life throughout and striking columns inspired by towering Douglas firs. Real-life trees will shade common areas and form a mini greenway in the core of the airport. It’s all a nod to the landscapes that remind us of home.
These new designs bring the places we love even closer to the heart of PDX.
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.
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.
PDX’s swanky new bar, Juliett, honors women in aviation with mid-20th-century style, top-class cocktails, and local wines and beers.
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.
Concourse B's 38-foot-high ceilings and 6,900 square feet of windows don't just let light in. They let you watch the airport in action. "I think this airport gave us a chance to celebrate the romance of flight," says Gene Sandoval of ZGF, the architecture firm that designed the new concourse.
ZGF Architects was inspired to bring the Pacific Northwest’s natural world indoors. You can contemplate the plants hanging from the ceiling and the Oregon white-oak walls as you relax in B’s comfy new seats. (Bonus: More power adapters!)
RYAN! Feddersen’s art installation, which fills the concourse, is made up of three interconnected pieces. The “Sentinel” landscapes and abstract “Habitat Tiles” are pictured here.
RYAN! is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. She draws inspiration from the region’s traditions and landscape for these pieces, which include the gently rolling “Cloud Walk” overhead.
Nicole and David Mouton, in partnership with HMSHost, opened an outpost of Portland’s beloved Screen Door Restaurant on Concourse B. Find Screen Door’s legendary fried chicken and waffles here from breakfast until dinnertime.
Sam and Nick Purvis, the brothers behind Good Coffee, source fresh coffee beans and teas from all over the world. Pick up a pastry or a bag of beans, too!
Our new rental car center opened in November 2021.
All rental car brands are now on-site at PDX – no more shuttles to pick up your car.
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.
Adding more lanes to our new, relocated exit toll plaza helps you leave PDX more quickly.
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.
You’ll notice subtle nods to the Pacific Northwest landscape throughout the space. Natural light, living trees, and native Oregon foliage may give you the feeling of walking through a park.
The new terminal’s wooden ceiling, made from sustainably grown, local Doug fir, might remind you of daylight filtering through forest canopies.
This will be your new view when entering the spacious ticket lobby at PDX. The nine-acre wood roof is so distinctive you’ll be able to spot it from the air.
The ripples and currents of pristine Northwest rivers inspired the new terminal’s curvy profile.
Expanding the heart of PDX creates more space for our beloved local shops and restaurants — not to mention local humans (and visitors, too).