The Pittsburgh Airport enters a sleek, new era, featuring a sparkly look and intuitive features that promise to make for a more user-friendly experience all around. (While we’re certainly excited, we do admit to an unexpected pang of nostalgia for a few distinctive quirks to which we’ll soon say goodbye.) With local anticipation growing by the week, Allegheny County Airport Authority CEO Christina Cassotis promises, “The new terminal will definitely be open by Thanksgiving.”
New Amenities at the Pittsburgh Airport
No doubt, many of the stats dazzle. The new terminal will feature 12 security lanes with 400 lineal yards of switchback queueing space (quadrupling the current set-up’s capacity), nearly 6,000 new parking spaces (including 2,300 covered) and 15 new local and national concessions, including Yinzer favorites like Mineo’s Pizza. The state-of-the-art baggage handling system decreases the distance luggage travels on conveyor belts from eight to three miles. This cuts down passengers’ post-flight waiting time. There are also approximately four miles of new roadways to connect I-376 with the new terminal.
A 1,300-foot, dual-level terminal bridge connects visitors directly to the departures, arrivals and ground transportation levels at the new terminal building. Yet one of the best parts of the spaces? Nods to Pittsburgh abound within the modern design, from the yellow “bridge” that connects those who’ve passed through security to the airside terminal, plus a “Fort Pitt Tunnel” replica and elevators with incline-related names.
All the Details of Pittsburgh’s New Airport
The departure hall proves a feast for the eyes. Its soaring, rolling ceilings bedazzle with 4,500 constellation lights. 100,000 square feet of glass, sourced from the State College area, lets in natural light and extra heat in colder months. (About 90% of materials and services have come from local businesses.) Three airport entrances funnel travelers toward all gates in an intuitive manner, thanks to clear sight-lines and a logical pathway. Guests now see planes right after passing through security. This creates a calming effect and proximity to aviation that was lacking in the old design.
Of the 32 tree-like ceiling support columns, no two are exactly the same, much like nature itself. Distinctive leaf imprints in the floor, scattered beneath twelve of the tree columns, represent trees indigenous to western Pennsylvania, too.
Tour guide Jeff Martinelli estimates he’s now shown off the new terminal more than 270 times. The response is overwhelmingly positive. After working in customer service for more than 20 years, he loves when “wow” is the first word out of a visitor’s mouth upon ogling the new space. He personally thinks that they’ve “hit a home run” with signage and intuitive way-finding. He says that this should make the terminal more efficient for all.
Njaimeh Njie (Bathroom Walls in the new terminal).
Easing Trips for All
But beyond beauty, the airport’s terminal and renovations to existing facilities have been designed for all who travel. Passengers with special needs have been a priority in the planning process. Access is more universal thanks to bright signage and shorter distances to traverse once at the airport. Dedicated spaces — some new, some refreshed — are many! There are nursing rooms for new moms. Those with autism will enjoy the Presley’s Place Sensory Sensitivity Room, which is a blueprint for such spaces all over the world. For senior travelers or those who have physical needs, adult changing rooms are available. Passengers will appreciate new seating with outlets at many gates, as well as remodeled bathrooms.
Four alfresco terraces — two before security and two after — offer access to the outdoors. They feature walking paths plus grass and shrubbery irrigated by stormwater shed from the building. Also, a roomy lounge area placed directly in front of security brings a sense of tranquility to those pausing for emotional goodbyes.
Honoring Pittsburgh Artists
Installing public art was a top priority at the new terminal. More than 80 percent of art and cultural installations come from local artists. Of course there are bigger names celebrated here, too — thanks to works like the 500-pound Alexander Calder mobile Pittsburgh that reigns over the new landside terminal. (Made for the Carnegie International in 1958, the work has seen three different Pittsburgh airport terminals since 1959.)
CEO Christina Cassotis made public art a priority at the new terminal. She sees art as a way to improve the travel experience and to instantly connect visitors to Pittsburgh’s culture. Among the 15 new local artists, some are from Carnegie Mellon University — five professors and two alumni.
For example, there’s Assistant Professor of Art and Social Practice at CMU’s School of Art Alisha B. Wormsley. The airport asked Wormsley to design a work for the new international corridor. Her entire installation, Portals, consists of two major components: an Orrery (an apparatus showing the relative positions and motions of bodies in the solar system) — which hangs on the ceiling “like an elaborate map of our galaxy told from the migrant populations coming to our city,” and a Butterfly Nebula (a nursery for new stars) — installed on the wall and made using objects from the airport’s lost and found.
“Through these two components, Portals aligns interplanetary travel with travel from people around the Earth to Pittsburgh,” she explains. “The artwork positions the airport as a nebula for travel in and out of worlds.”
Alisha Wormsley’s Butterfly Nebula which features objects sourced from the airport’s lost and found.
How Travel Influences Our Lives
Within her sources of inspiration, Wormsley tapped into a lifetime of traveling to and also from this city. “I have been fortunate enough to be able to travel all over the world. That interest and desire started being raised in Pittsburgh and going to the different museums in the city and meeting people in the city, who are from around the world, different parts of the world, and just amazed that we could all converge and meet in this one place,” she says. She’s also stirred by science fiction — and thinking about the ways in which we interact with the ancient past and the distant future.
“I also think we are in a time when coming together from different places is being criminalized,” she says, “and I feel very differently about that. I think it’s one of the most beautiful ways that we learn and grow as human beings.”
Wormsley finds it incredibly exciting to have a permanent artwork on display in her own city. “I am really proud to be from the place that I am from and the communities that I’m in,” she says, “and I hope that this gives folks something to think about, to feel, to criticize and to love —— all the things.”
Story by Corinne Whiting
Photos Courtesy of Allegheny County Airport Authority
Subscribe to TABLE Magazine‘s print edition.
