Designers are tapping advanced building technology as well as concepts dating to ancient times to green a terminal at San Francisco International Airport that will be the new home for Virgin America and American Airlines domestic flights.

The goal of the $383 million renovation at SFO is to replace a structure that was once the heart of the airport with a 587,000-square-foot building that sets new standards for the comfort and safety of travelers and environmental responsibility.

Driving the design for SFO's new Terminal 2 is a desire to "bring back the joy of flying," said Melissa Mizell, a senior associate at Gensler. The firm is the master architect for the project with Turner Construction as the design build general contractor.

"We want to deliver a high-performance, energy efficient building and passenger delight," Mizell said.

Scheduled for completion in spring 2011, the new terminal is designed to serve 4 million passengers a year and meet standards for certification by the U.S. Green Building Council at the LEED-Silver level, at minimum. The designation is the second of four certification levels awarded under the USGBC's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design assessment and rating system.

To achieve the rating, the terminal will incorporate energy and water efficiency elements and other resource-saving features that are expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,667 tons each year.

The measures are to include:

• Lighting and other building systems that are expected to annually reduce energy use by 2.9 GWh, natural gas consumption by 116,00 therms and carbon dioxide emissions by 1,640 tons.
• Plumbing fixtures that use 40 percent less water and a dual plumbing system that will enable use of reclaimed water from the airport's water treatment plant for toilets and other non-potable purposes.
• Use of building materials, coatings, flooring and furniture made with recycled content and low-emitting substances.
• A displacement ventilation system that brings filtered, fresh air into rooms and displaces existing warmer air by pushing it up and out through exhaust points.
• A "zero waste" strategy that includes an aggressive recycling program for airport operations, employees and travelers; composting of waste from food services; and use of biodegradable tableware by vendors.
• A paperless ticketing system.
• The country's first "airport food marketplace" to focus on locally grown and produced offerings.
• A pedestrian bridge to Bay Area Rapid Transit trains and the airport's people mover, called AirTrain.
• Plug-in electrical chargers for airport ground services equipment.
• Prime parking spots for hybrid vehicles.

Gensler, Turner, SFO and their other project partners had to first strip down the structure originally christened the Central Terminal.

It was a state-of-the-art facility when it opened in 1954 and featured the first jetways at time when boarding and exiting planes involved climbing stairs in the open air.

The black-and-white photo above shows the Central Terminal under construction, and the one below shows the terminal's lobby circa 1957.


The terminal was revamped in 1983 and housed international flights until the airport's new International Terminal opened in 2000.

Although operations offices and a control tower occupy upper floors, for the past decade the public has largely seen the building as something to bypass between Terminals 1 and 3.

The seismic retrofit and green makeover of Terminal 2 began in 2008 with builders peeling away the structure to reveal its steel frame.



Next Page: A new vision for SFO's T2