Our aviation directors from the Tetra Tech High Performance Buildings Group share their insights on how terminal design is more complex and critical than it’s ever been, and how prioritizing people can deliver safe and intuitive spaces that adapt to future needs.
Human hubs, not operational hubs
At their core, airports serve people. As engineers, it’s important we don’t simply design assets. We need to design human-centered systems that work today and are capable of scale and adaptation. This means providing a safe and seamless experience. Terminals that are easier to navigate, better connected, and more comfortable give airports the edge.
Why experience matters
At the heart of world-leading airport design is experience. The complexity of systems and technology requires a comprehensive understanding of the people who use, maintain, and benefit from them, as well a robust knowledge of legacy equipment and the industry’s culture.
Aviation projects are unique in their constraints, stakeholders, and risk. Experience matters, especially when integrating old and new systems or navigating the often conflicting demands of stakeholder groups.
Having access to global specialists who have worked on airports worldwide and delivered design-firsts puts our engineering teams at an advantage. This knowledge transfer, across projects and geographies, provides deep insight to improve design.
Design with the end in mind
Airports take a decade to build, and technology often outpaces build time. Planning for change is critical so that infrastructure can be adapted as needs change. Whether it’s switchgear size or cooling loads, designing a future-ready facility is imperative.
Master planning plays a vital role here. We work closely with clients to design for population growth, which can increase passenger flow and lead to additional buildings such as hotels or car parks.
Infrastructure is often designed modularly so it can meet growing needs—particularly for cooling, power, and distribution—and to allow for the addition of future systems without major redesigns.
Some equipment is sized to allow for expansion, such as central cooling plants and switchgear rooms. Services such as high-voltage rings and pedestrian flows are also factored into long-term planning, even if the associated developments won’t be built for another decade.
In the video below, Matthew Preston, associate director, explains how airport terminals are designed for incremental expansion. So early master planning, including modular infrastructure and spare capacity, is critical to avoid costly disruptions and rebuilds as demand grows.
Continuity is king in live environments
Airports operate live 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Each gate and terminal represents revenue, whether from flights, retail, or services. Delays and disruptions can trigger major losses, so upgrades and expansions must be implemented without disrupting passenger flow and operations.
Project teams need to plan carefully and work flexibly—sometimes sprinting across terminals with equipment to catch a gap between flights for testing—all without interfering with the airport’s schedule. This flexibility becomes the mindset of an aviation engineer.
Coordinate stakeholder complexity
Each airport project involves layers of stakeholders, including airport authorities, airline operators, retail tenants, and security teams. Coordination is key as each of these groups impacts project success.
Techniques like “the big room,” where all groups come together weekly, help manage the impact of issues such as security access and badging delays. Without careful management, these glitches can easily become project pinch points.
In the video below, Angela Templin, vice president and government sector lead, explains how pre-badging staff and subcontractors is essential for seamless airport access, helping teams move efficiently and avoid delays during critical work periods.
Familiarity with airport culture
Aviation projects have their own language. Acronyms such as PCA and 400 Hz are not just jargon, they represent systems unique to airports. Showing fluency builds confidence and speeds up approvals.
Teams that have live airport environment experience understand not only the systems, but also the language, culture, and urgency that comes with them.
Managing legacy systems, upgrades, and system integration
Many airports struggle with outdated as-built documentation and poor records. Teams often need to physically verify conditions to avoid costly surprises mid-construction.
Systems such as smoke control, ventilation, and security are tightly interlinked across terminals, and mistakes or oversights in one area can shut down another.
Smoke control systems have evolved dramatically over time, moving from brute force air handling to performance-based design, supported by computational fluid dynamics (CFD). Collaboration between mechanical and fire engineers is now essential, and in many projects, we engineer solutions collaboratively, working side by side.
Legacy systems also introduce challenges such as undocumented cabling, often with hundreds of unidentified cables jammed together. Modernization isn’t just about installation; it’s also about untangling the past and making systems work together safely under current codes.
In the video below, Scott Ceasar, vice president, explains how smoke control systems at airports have evolved from basic air movement strategies to sophisticated, data-informed designs using fire load analysis and computer modelling for safer, more efficient evacuation.
Resourcing from specialist supply chains
Airports rely on niche systems, sometimes serviced by just a few global specialists. For example, only a handful of engineers are qualified to commission PCA systems or 400 Hz generators. These providers must be scheduled well in advance and teams must be flexible around their availability.
Some equipment, such as switchgear or air handling units (AHU), have lead times as long as 90 weeks. Design decisions must be finalized early even when the rest of the project is still evolving. To manage this, equipment is often slightly oversized and designed with flexibility in mind.
While heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) components are now available faster due to modern manufacturing, strategic planning and sequencing remain key to keeping projects moving.
Resilience by design
Resilient power systems, including generators or battery storage, are essential. Power supply in airports often includes dual feeds and standby transformers. HVAC plants are designed to operate bidirectionally, so that if one pipe fails, another can take over.
Levels of resilience are tailored based on operational priority. Premium carriers demand more robust systems to avoid delays, while lower cost carriers may accept slightly lower resilience thresholds.
Resilience is not just about backup systems; it also involves ensuring fire alarms don’t trigger unnecessary terminal evacuations that can cost millions of dollars. Airports need robust, yet adaptable designs that allow for modernization without systemwide disruption.
In the video below, Angela Templin explains how designing a backup power system for an airport—critical as a community refuge—ensures reliable operation during major outages.
Retail centers with runways
An airport’s role as an economic hub means every piece of floorspace must work hard, offering both an optimal passenger experience and delivering meaningful commercial return. With increased competition between airports, these drivers are more important than ever.
Future design must accommodate changes in technology, travel behavior, and expectations while remaining flexible for tenants and operators.
Integrating electric vehicle infrastructure
Electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure is becoming an integral part of both landside and airside operations. Planning for future grid demands and charging stations is now essential as electrification takes over aircraft, service vehicles, and passenger transport.
These infrastructure challenges are closely tied to sustainability goals and fire safety considerations.