36 TERMINALS September 2026 AirportImprovement.com SEA The concept grew out of an existing column that needed to remain in the space for structural reasons, explains Matt Ducharme, principal and North America design director for Woods Bagot. “The design team took something that looked like it wasn’t supposed to be in the space, and we made it the central element within it.” Creating the Tree at C was an iterative process, with several coordination meetings, drawing reviews and full-scale mock-ups. In contrast, the installation was much more streamlined. “There was no question this was a completely custom project, a one-off with nothing like it coming before or after,” says Dan Holdridge, senior ProjectWorks® manager for Armstrong. “We had all-in collaboration and clear communications the whole way through. Everything went smoothly and the results are incredible.” Although the Tree at C immediately captures travelers’ attention, architects on the project say it wasn’t designed simply to impress—it was designed to reduce stress. Before the expansion, passengers moving through the C and D concourses often encountered narrow circulation paths and crowded waiting areas. Today, visitors are naturally drawn into the new atrium by views of the airfield and the Olympic Mountains, and the associated new traffic pattern has helped ease congestion throughout the surrounding terminal. “The immediate impression for passengers is going to be room to breathe,” says Billy Schreiber, project leader with Woods Bagot. “The way the project functions and integrates with the circulation of the surrounding concourses is super-impactful.” Bringing In, Seeing Out While the result is visually impressive, the project and design teams worried it would be challenging to convince time-crunched passengers to climb the stairs and enjoy the upper area. “A split level is already a super no-no,” shares Katy Mercer, principal and North America interior design leader at Woods Bagot. Concessionaires want to be visible and easily accessible for travelers who are hesitant about wandering from their gates. Both of these factors can make multi-level airport concessions notoriously difficult. Overcoming those challenges became one of the key design goals. The architects and designers worked to make every level visible from the moment passengers enter the building. The sweeping openness of the Grand Stairs helped accomplish that goal. “The fact that it felt like they could jump down the stairs if they needed to get to their flight really broke down that two-level atmosphere,” Mercer remarks. Open sightlines reinforce that feeling throughout the space. “Even the way that the slab edges formed on the mezzanine level—how it peels back and funnels into the Grand Stairs—helps with all the sight lines,” Schreiber points out. “You never feel like you’re enclosed.” That result was intentional. In fact, the information SEA provided to design firms competing for the project challenged them to rethink passenger circulation. “We put a lot of focus on getting candidates to think about how they were going to bring people into the space,” says Janet Sheerer, SEA’s capital program leader for the C Concourse Expansion. The winning concept proposed something ambitious and unexpected: redirecting nearly everyone walking through the C and D concourses into the new building. “We were like, ‘Really?’” Sheerer recalls with a laugh. “But we really liked the idea and that they [The Miller Hull Partnership and Woods Bagot] seemed to ‘get it.’ Shifting actual behavior in an airport is not easy to do, so it was exceptionally gratifying that first day when the barricades came down,” she says. “The passengers just started flowing through the space.” Almost immediately, travelers instinctively chose the brighter, more open VRHJetworks, a division of VRH Construction VRHJetworks provides comprehensive airport passenger boarding bridge installation, construction services, and design-build solutions. Our expertise in the procurement, construction management, & maintenance of airport ground support equipment (GSE) includes: www.vrhjetworks.com Passenger Boarding Bridges Ground Power Units Pre-Conditioned Air Units EV Charging Stations VDGS Security Equipment Systems Integration Commissioning COMPREHENSIVE PASSENGER BOARDING BRIDGES & GSE EQUIPMENT VRH Construction 320 Grand Avenue Englewood, NJ 07631 T 201.871.4422 E info@vrhcorp.com W www.vrhjetworks.com DAN HOLDRIDGE KATY MERCER MATT DUCHARME
View this content as a flipbook by clicking here.