Fentress Architects to design $1.8bn terminal at Orlando Airport

Fentress Architects will provide consultation and design services for the $1.8bn south terminal at the Orlando International Airport in the US.

The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority (GOAA) authorised the airport to start negotiations with Fentress to determine the outlook of the terminal, construction of which is expected to be completed by 2019, reported the Orlando Business Journal.

Fentress Architects president and CEO Curtis W Fentress said: “In Orlando, there’s a lot of imagery in the plants and materials that are part of things here, and that’s very exciting food for thought for architects.

“In Orlando, there’s a lot of imagery in the plants and materials that are part of things here, and that’s very exciting food for thought for architects.”

“We will have a lot of focus groups, meetings with the community, the airport board and stakeholders and the passengers to form what our design is.”

The terminal will have 16 to 24 gates to increase the airport’s capacity to accommodate more domestic and international flights and to attract more tourists.

GOAA chairman Frank Kruppenbacher said: “My whole view of the design is in exceedingly passenger-friendly simple process for everyone, a disabled person, an older person, a child, to be able to arrive at the airport and depart or land in the terminal and say we have thought of everything to make that experience work.”

While the new terminal is expected to increase the airport’s capacity Southwest and Delta, two of the busiest airlines at the airport, have opposed the move saying it is unnecessary and too expensive.

Earlier this year, the airport had initiated a $1.3bn expansion that would replace check-in counters with smaller kiosks, add a new parking garage and a train terminal.