The city of Chicago has announced the winning design for the terminal and concourse at Chicago O'Hare airport. Studio Gang-led team StudioORD has been named as the winner of the international competition in which the winning entry beaten Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), Foster + Partners - Epstein and Moreno, Fentress-EXP-Brook-Garza and Santiago Calatrava in a bid.  

The $8.5 billion expansion program for O’Hare International Airport will elevate the travel experience for more than 83 million passengers relying upon O’Hare each year, and will create tens of thousands of jobs for the community. 

StudioORD's team, comprised of Solomon Cordwell Buenz (SCB), Corgan, Milhouse Engineering and Construction, and STL Architects, will now enter into a contract with the city of Chicago to move further on details on the project. 

The proposed design for a new 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 design’s converging three branches create a central hub that establishes a vibrant new neighborhood in the heart of O’Hare’s campus.

"Every aspect of the design is focused on creating a uniquely Chicago experience," said Jeanne Gang, Founding Principal of Studio Gang and Lead Designer of Studio ORD. 

"It embodies the city’s fundamental geographic asset: a place of convergence of paths of movement both natural and manmade. Our design creates a new Chicago neighborhood that reflects the culture, traditions, and diversity of the city. Its exposed structure, interior streets, and bustling activity express our city’s trajectory as a center of movement, exchange, and growth."

Curving to increase efficiency, wayfinding, and connectivity, the tripartite form merges terminal and concourse into a single building. At the branches’ confluence, a dramatic Oculus welcomes visitors under a six-pointed glass skylight whose geometry references the Chicago flag. When seen from above, the building greets passengers with a easily recognizably Chicago icon: the city’s "Y symbol," or Municipal Device, that represents the branching Chicago River.

"The City of Chicago called upon teams from across the city and around the world to lead O’Hare’s historic expansion, and Studio ORD answered that call," said Mayor Emanuel. 

"During this historic competition, the world’s best architecture firms submitted their incredible visions for the world to see—with each of these five world-class designs strengthening our plans to bring O’Hare into the 21st century.  Today we congratulate Studio ORD who has proven they have the experience, expertise, and the talent needed to work with the City of Chicago as we usher in a new era at O’Hare."

At 2.2 million square feet, the new O’Hare Global Terminal will be one of the largest and most cutting edge terminals in the nation. It will more than double the space at today’s Terminal 2, replacing it with an expanded, light-filled arrivals hall to feature: additional gates; more space for concessions, lounges and public amenities; state of the art new baggage systems; and advanced new technologies to improve security screening.

For the first time at O’Hare, the new Global Terminal will integrate international and domestic operations, allowing travelers to more easily connect to domestic flights from destinations around the world from under one roof. 

Additional gate capacity will allow O’Hare’s dual hub partners, United and American Airlines, and their alliance partners to grow at O’Hare, resulting in greater connectivity and competitive pricing for travelers.

Beneath the Oculus, a vibrant new neighborhood unfolds around an expansive Central Green that can support pop-up events, music, and informal gathering. The plantings extends through the terminal’s three branches, framing boulevards of restaurants, shops, and retail that together evoke a lively Chicago street.

Surrounding the Oculus, a pleated roof of long-span steel trusses clad in wood maximizes natural daylight and energy efficiency. The roof is supported by Y-shaped columns spaced over 100 feet apart that distribute the structural load to maximize open circulation and ensure flexibility to accommodate change over the terminal’s lifespan. A light-filled Mezzanine above the concourse houses ticketing and security for departing passengers. Culminating in a dramatic Overlook, the Mezzanine offers expansive views of the airfield beyond and of the neighborhood and gates below, helping passengers orient themselves and heightening the excitement of travel.

"The O’Hare Global Terminal and Concourse will be visitors’ first experience of Chicago," said Gang, "so it was vital that our design reflect our city’s diversity, creativity, and status as a contemporary, economically strong, global city."

Video courtesy of Studio Gang

The project is currently slated to break ground in 2023. The City will work with its airline partners to ensure a timely, cost-efficient delivery of the new O’Hare Global Terminal and throughout the entire $8.5 billion terminal capital program.

All images courtesy of Studio ORD

> via StudioORD & Studio Gang