Aviation
The design for the new O’Hare Global Terminal and Global Concourse celebrates Chicago’s history as a city shaped by lines of movement, and extends that legacy for the 21st century. Like the confluence of the Chicago River, the O’Hare renovation design’s converging three branches create a central hub that establishes a vibrant new neighborhood in the heart of Chicago O’hare International Airport.
Smoothly bending to increase efficiency, wayfinding, and connectivity, the tripartite design merges O’Hare terminals, O’Hare airport gates and concourse into a single building that is uniquely evocative of the city of Chicago. At the branches’ confluence of the Chicago O’Hare airport, a dramatic oculus welcomes visitors under a six-pointed glass skylight, whose geometry references the Chicago flag. Surrounding the oculus is a rhythmic, pleated roof of long-span steel trusses. Clad in wood and emphasizing the building’s curving form, the pleats are spaced and oriented to maximize natural daylight and energy efficiency. From inside, their directionality gently guides passengers through the space. When seen from above, the building’s form greets passengers of the airport transit system for both local and international flights with an easily recognizable, distinctly Chicago icon: the city’s “Y symbol,” or Municipal Device, that represents the branching Chicago River.
