Orlando International Airport Terminal C

Year: 2022
Category: Transportation · Transport Interiors
Type: Transport + Infrastructure
Status: Built
Firm: Fentress Architects
Location: Orlando, United States

At $2.8 billion and 1.8 million square feet, Terminal C is Orlando International Airport’s largest expansion, bespeaking a design and campus vision that allows the airport to accommodate its latest record-breaking growth and outlook. Its centerpiece 1,000-foot-long skylit “Boulevard” is an urban-scaled passenger thoroughfare linking all buildings to create the country’s first fully integrated multimodal airport. The Boulevard is designed to stretch through Terminal C and Train Station, connecting all modes of transportation with Ticketing, Baggage Claim, and two plaza-scale passenger hubs, “Town Square” and “Palm Court.” Urban design principles were important in shaping and organizing the major public spaces to achieve effective and efficient connectivity and wayfinding.

Innovations like the state-of-the-art baggage handling system and facial recognition technology upgrade the passenger experience by creating a more efficient and secure airport experience. Additionally, Terminal C is designed to be one of the first LEEDv4 Certified airport campuses. For many, Orlando is a once-in-a-lifetime vacation destination. To celebrate this, the baggage claim and ticketing levels were flipped to create a Grand Arrivals Hall on the terminal’s top level to welcome Orlando passengers.

The design concept of “The Orlando Experience®” is integrated throughout the new terminal. Characterized by sky, water and foliage, the unique Central Florida feeling is part of the memorable air-traveler experience and sets the tone for the rest of their stay. The Boulevard’s glass skylight, in various blues, filter and dapple sunlight streaming onto the spaces below, while the feature walls in the terminal light wells echo the play of sun and water. In the airside hub, iconic Florida foliage defines the Palm Court.

Reinforcing the architecture, large-scale experiential media features with customized content – “Moment Vault” and “Windows on Orlando” – give passengers a first and last experience of the Orlando region, from rocket launches to swimming with the manatees.