Dulles International Airport Main Terminal

The Main Terminal of Dulles International Airport is in Dulles, Virginia, United States, some from Washington, D.C. The airport, serving the Washington metropolitan area, straddles the border between Loudoun and Fairfax counties. The terminal is placed between Dulles Airport's original north–south runways. It is one of several terminal structures at Dulles Airport, along with several outlying "midfield concourses" and the International Arrivals Building, all of which were developed after the original terminal. The terminal was built to smaller dimensions than comparable terminals at other airports because it used mobile lounges, which transported passengers from the terminal to planes and, later, to the concourses. and was his only work in Virginia. Saarinen worked with structural engineering firm Ammann & Whitney, mechanical engineering firm Burns & McDonnell, and airport consultant Charles Landrum. and, from the outset, was designed with future expansions in mind. Saarinen described his design as a "huge continuous hammock suspended between concrete trees", Ammann & Whitney was also the engineer for SOM's expansion. Both ends were built with provisions for extensions measuring long, The base of the original terminal, including vehicular ramps, was intended to support such an expansion, which was intended to have the same cross-section as the original terminal. In particular, the vehicular ramps paralleled the terminal for its entire proposed length, and Saarinen added empty openings at the terminal's base to accommodate future entrances. giving the terminal a total length of . Just west of the Main Terminal is the International Arrivals Terminal, which abuts the Main Terminal's base. The ramps loop around a parking area nicknamed the "bowl", while later parking garages were built away from the terminal to preserve views of the building. The ramps are reached by the Dulles Access Road, which leads east toward Washington, D.C. The Dulles Access Road, the airport's original main approach road, was intended as a major part of the terminal's design, providing passengers views of the building as it emerged from the landscape; it was landscaped by Kiley. Plans for a Washington Metro line to serve the terminal had been considered since the 1960s, though the Dulles International Airport station did not open until 2022. A 1996 expansion to the original terminal contained provisions for connections to a future Metro station. Along the terminal's south or airside facade, a concourse extends southward. The tower itself is tall and is topped by a radome measuring in diameter; the tower was decommissioned in 2007 but remains in place. The Main Terminal also has four gates known as the Z gates, where aircraft can load and unload passengers directly; South of the terminal is the airport's apron. Facade The concave roof is supported by two parallel colonnades to the north and south, which divide each facade into bays measuring wide. In the original portion of the terminal, there are 16 columns in each colonnade. Each of the taller columns has of reinforcing steel, while each of the shorter columns is reinforced by of steel. The columns slant outward at an angle of either 10 counteracting the forces of suspension cables that carry the roof. When the terminal was extended west and east in the 1990s, the new columns were built to the same dimensions as the original terminals' columns. Each glass pane is placed on rubber gaskets and fastened to the columns using rubber strips; these gaskets tended to fall off after they were installed. The Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company made of glass for the terminal, which were cut into 1,137 shapes. The window panes are embedded within aluminum frames, which are curved and tilt outward at their tops. The curtain walls in the annexes are similar in style to the original curtain walls, though they use modern gaskets that were less susceptible to falling. Nitterhouse Concrete Products in Pennsylvania manufactured the slabs. preventing the cables from bouncing around; To improve acoustics, the roof dips at the centerline of the terminal, The roof's centerline slopes down from both ends toward a drainpipe at the center of the building. The roofs over the 1990s extensions are similar in design to the original roof. During a 1996 expansion, the size of the Main Terminal was more than doubled, increasing to about . Originally, the Main Terminal's upper level was for departing passengers, while the lower level was for arriving passengers. Saarinen's master plan for Dulles Airport called for service buildings both east and west of the Main Terminal; these structures were designed with low roofs so they did not obstruct views from the Main Terminal. The original service building, to the east, included equipment for hot and chilled water production. When the terminal was completed, it was cooled by two large refrigeration units, which had a daily cooling capacity equivalent to of ice. Facilities When the terminal was built, there were ticket counters on the upper level, and conveyor belts that brought baggage to a loading area in the basement. The original design included very few stores, since it was not originally envisioned as a place to spend extended amounts of time. When the terminal opened, there were 24 mobile-lounge gates. The lower, or ground, story initially contained regional and commuter airline gates, along with offices as well as baggage carousels and a baggage-sorting facility in the west wing. The original structure's first or upper basement contains security checkpoints spanning ; the Capital One Lounge is located between the western and eastern checkpoints. The second or lower basement contains a station for the AeroTrain people-mover system. and a pair of escalators. Another tunnel leads south from the Main Terminal to midfield concourse B. Airside transport Initially, after passengers were processed at the Main Terminal, they were transported directly to planes via mobile lounges. The original mobile lounges were manufactured by Budd Company and Chrysler. with floors at the same height as the departure level. Each mobile lounge could travel at a top speed of about . Departure times originally reflected when the lounges left the terminal, to accommodate wide-body aircraft. In contrast to the lower capacity of the original lounges, the Plane Mates could fit 150 passengers and could rise higher than the original lounges. Saarinen considered the mobile lounges a solution to three problems—they shortened the walking distance to the plane, reduced taxiing distances, and allowed greater apron flexibility. When the terminal was developed in the 1960s, jet planes could not fit traditional terminals and could only be accessed via long jetways. The mobile lounges eliminated the need for jetways and allowed Dulles Airport to be built with a single terminal, smaller in size than other airports' terminals. while also reducing airlines' taxiing fees and keeping aircraft emissions away from the terminal. Passengers also did not have to walk more than a few hundred feet. Retrospectively, observers noted that the lounges were inconvenient to use and that passengers making connecting flights had to wait for multiple lounges. When the midfield concourses were built in the 1980s, the mobile lounges began traveling to these concourses instead. The AeroTrain people mover system opened in 2010, traveling to midfield concourses A, B, and C. , Dulles Airport's operator Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority retains 19 of Saarinen's mobile lounges and 30 Plane Mates, which operate to Concourse D. the potential expansion of the AeroTrain would make the remaining mobile lounges obsolete. == History ==

Development The U.S. Congress passed the Washington Inner Airports Act in 1950 to provide funding for a new airport in the Washington metropolitan area. This directly led to the creation of what became Dulles International Airport in Chantilly, Virginia. and the U.S. government acquired the land that August. The airport was officially named in 1959 after John Foster Dulles, the United States Secretary of State under Eisenhower. The airport and its Main Terminal were originally controlled directly by the U.S. federal government Design The Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) selected Eero Saarinen of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, in May 1958 to design several of Dulles Airport's buildings, including its Main Terminal and control tower. Ammann & Whitney, who led the airport's overall design, Saarinen and Ammann & Whitney worked in collaboration with the airport's mechanical engineering firm Burns & McDonnell and the consultant Charles Landrum to collect data for the design of Dulles Airport's Main Terminal. The design team was particularly focused on reducing passengers' walking distances, reducing taxiing costs, and increasing flexibility of the apron. Furthermore, they anticipated that Dulles Airport would need 60 gates by 1975 to accommodate increasing demand. One early design proposal, by Boyd Anderson of Ammann & Whitney, called for suspension cables between the ground and roof; after Saarinen expressed his satisfaction, the design team instead proposed a cable roof. The terminal itself was tentatively planned to have separate levels for departing and arriving passengers. Contracts for clearing and grading the site had been awarded by the end of 1958, but no contracts for the terminal had been awarded yet. The terminal design was still in progress by early 1959, at which point it was planned to span . The FAA (then known as the Federal Aviation Agency) announced details of Saarinen's design in January 1960. The plans called for a double-level structure, with concrete piers supporting a concave curved roof; the building could be doubled in size. The control tower and mobile lounges were designed in conjunction with the terminal; That October, it ordered a prototype of a mobile lounge and awarded a contract for the terminal's telephone service. The FAA also built settling basins for temporary use until a permanent sewage system for the terminal could be built. The FAA began soliciting bids for the terminal building itself in January 1960 and reviewed the bids the next month. The Corbetta Construction Company of New York City submitted the lowest bid, for $4,432,000, and was subsequently awarded the construction contract. That April, workers began grading the terminal's site and laying foundations. Models of the Main Terminal were displayed at Washington National Airport in August 1960. By then, the U.S. federal government (which originally operated the airport) had oversubscribed all of the ticket counter space and the gates. so outgoing FAA administrator Pete Quesada postponed the opening date by one year. By June 1961, the airport's original $85 million budget had more than doubled to $175 million, and FAA administrator Najeeb Halaby said the new terminal would be overcrowded by 1967. Due to a lack of federal funding, the building's initial length was truncated from . at which point it was budgeted at $12 million. The rebar in each column surrounded a metal cage, from which a worker oversaw the pour until it was nearly complete; the cage was then encased in concrete. That November, the FAA awarded a concession for the terminal's bars and restaurants. The FAA paid $4.6 million for the terminal's first 20 mobile lounges that month, By then, the control tower was 60% complete. The airlines agreed to lease the Main Terminal's ticket counter in January 1962, having petitioned for a longer counter. Disputes over fees continued until that June, when the FAA and the airlines agreed on a schedule of operating fees for the mobile lounges and the terminal's space. The terminal's contractors began working double shifts in April 1962 after Halaby threatened to penalize contractors for not completing the terminal by October 1. During mid-1962, the FAA solicited bids for the construction of service spaces for the airlines. Builders had difficulties constructing the windows; Workers eventually built a custom protractor to cut the glass. By then, workers were finishing the interior, while airport staff were practicing with the mobile lounges. As late as a few days before the opening, many parts of the terminal were still incomplete. The final cost was estimated at approximately $16 million. The first passengers began using the terminal two days later, and the terminal recorded 25,000 tourists on its first full Sunday of operation. Some final work was still ongoing, The terminal quickly became a symbol of the new airport, and it received positive acclaim, in part because its mobile lounges made the planes entirely accessible. Travelers often threw coins into the terminal's reflecting pool; The FAA leased out a duty-free shop at the terminal in early 1963, and a restaurant opened there that November, at which point the terminal was basically complete. this negatively impacted terminal concessionaires' business. Newsweek said that staff sometimes outnumbered passengers, Another source said that "a visitor could roll a bowling ball from one end ... without hitting anyone". Conversely, the terminal was popular as a tourist attraction, and the mobile lounges had become more popular than expected; many visitors paid just to ride the lounges. The terminal and airport continued to experience lower-than-expected patronage in the mid-1960s. In 1968, the lower level flooded, causing some damage to the terminal. Patronage steadily increased; by 1969, some concessionaires had recorded their first profits. 1970s and early 1980s By the early 1970s, the FAA anticipated that the terminal's usage would increase sixfold, from 2 to 12 million, within a decade. To accommodate the increased traffic, the FAA ordered additional mobile lounges and stopped giving tourists rides on the existing lounges, Early plans called for the building to be lengthened east–west to , increasing hourly capacity from 1,650 to either 2,300 The architectural firm Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum (HOK) was hired in December 1970 to prepare preliminary designs for the expansion. the project was estimated to cost $12 million. in part because of funding shortages and insufficient demand. The NCPC expressed concerns that the east–west annexes would overshadow the original design, The FAA hired Frank Briscoe Co. in early 1978 to expand the terminal, and work began that September. The same year, the control tower's radome was replaced. HOK's expansion was completed in 1980. By then, customs facilities had been moved to an adjacent temporary structure with four mobile-lounge bays. To attract business, the FAA began allowing small planes to load or unload directly at the terminal itself. Instead, in 1983, the agency proposed a "midfield concourse" in the middle of the apron, from which passengers could load onto planes directly. The first midfield concourse was hastily built and could be accessed only by the mobile lounges. Master plan expansion Mid- and late 1980s In the mid-1980s, as part of a master plan, a consultant recommended doubling the Main Terminal's size, constructing a people-mover to the midfield concourse, and expanding the terminal's airline gates. New vehicular ramps were proposed to alleviate traffic in front of the terminal. The plans also included new facilities for several airlines that used the Main Terminal, along with a separate terminal for international arrivals. The expansions came amid rapid growth in the airport's usage, which neared 4 million by 1984. at which point was expected to cost $420 million. In the meantime, a clinic, baggage claim areas, and stores in the terminal were added, while the international arrivals area was revamped. David Childs and Marilyn Taylor of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) were hired to design a master plan for the terminal, which was rapidly approaching its annual capacity of 13 million passengers. Concessions and security equipment had been installed throughout the years, intruding on the original interior design. Security concerns had also required the mobile-lounge docks on the south facade to be closed; instead, passengers had to undergo X-ray screening, creating a bottleneck. The same year, to alleviate congestion at the Main Terminal, the MWAA began constructing the international arrivals terminal, which was designed by SOM to the west of the original terminal. At that point, the Main Terminal's expansion was scheduled to be completed by early 1994. and a federal inspection area at the Main Terminal was enlarged as well. The International Arrivals Terminal opened in 1991, replacing the international-arrivals facilities in the Main Terminal, though the new terminal quickly became overcrowded. The MWAA was also constructing permanent midfield concourses, replacing the temporary annexes on the main building's southern facade. Despite calls by United Airlines officials to halt or delay the proposed expansion, the MWAA decided to proceed with the renovation, the cost of which had risen to $319 million. The control tower's radome was replaced again in 1993. or 1997. This was planned to be followed in 1998 by the original terminal's interior. Work on the expansion began in October 1993, though MWAA officials were already contemplating further upgrades before work started. To fund the renovation, the MWAA added a passenger facility charge to every ticket, The Main Terminal was lengthened to , slightly more than twice the original length, The columns and roofs of the original building were recreated in the annexes, though the annexes' roof cables were prestressed using cranes rather than sandbags. United Airlines moved into the eastern annex on July 1, 1996, and the annexes were dedicated on September 6 that year. Additional midfield concourses opened in the late 1990s, relieving crowding at the Main Terminal, where queues had frequently doubled back on themselves. Development of the walkway was delayed after U.S. Senator John McCain withheld congressional funds for the project, stemming from a dispute regarding flights at Washington National Airport. 2000s to present By 2000, there were proposals to renovate the original terminal as part of a $3.4 billion renovation of Dulles Airport. Work on the pedestrian tunnel to concourse B was underway, and several parking garages were being built nearby; in addition, the terminal's control tower was proposed for replacement. An underpass to the new parking garages was completed in 2004 for $81 million, A tunnel for baggage was developed concurrently, and the Z gates opened in 2005. By the mid-2000s, the MWAA was constructing a security checkpoint, along with a people mover (by then known as the AeroTrain) leading to the outlying concourses. and the airport's overall expansion was completed the next year. Additionally, in 2012, checkpoints were added to the Main Terminal as part of the TSA PreCheck frequent-flyer program, and the MWAA began displaying information on security-screening wait times. The Main Terminal gained direct mass-transit access in 2022 with the opening of Washington Metro's Dulles International Airport station, The MWAA announced another master plan for Dulles Airport in 2025. Renderings of this master plan indicate that a walkway might be built south to midfield concourses A and B. Twenty-one firms submitted plans the next month, many of which incorporated the Main Terminal. == Impact ==

Reception Contemporary '' wrote that the terminal's design was "vaguely suggestive of some oriental shrine". Saarinen had deemed the Dulles Main Terminal "the best thing I have done"; Saarinen's wife, the architectural critic Aline B. Saarinen, similarly believed the terminal would be her husband's "best work". Although the Associated Press wrote that the completed terminal "was too modern for many tastes when it was built", The Associated Press wrote that the walls, interior lighting, and control tower combined to create "a dreamlike appearance" at night. and they also likened the building to a plane. Wolf Von Eckardt considered the Dulles terminal, along with Boston City Hall, as likely to become "the greatest [building] on the American scene in a decade or two". Conversely, Morris Lapidus wrote for Architecture: The AIA Journal in 1964 that, although the building's exterior was "beautifully bold and daring", the interior lacked scale or embellishing details. The historian Vincent Scully disliked Saarinen's use of "whammo shapes" at the TWA Flight Center and the Dulles Main Terminal, calling the latter "finger-tip insecurity over marshmallow slab". Retrospective Retrospectively, a commentator for the Reporter-Times described early reactions as negative, saying that the local and state governments had only reluctantly accepted Saarinen's design. A New York Times article, conversely, characterized the building as having been perceived "as a bold reflection of American aviation" from the outset. In 1977, when the terminal's expansion was first being considered, a Washington Post writer deemed the terminal Dulles Airport's "one great strength", saying it "looks far more capable of flight" than ordinary aircraft. The Washington Post referred to the terminal in 1989 as "inspiring from afar and maddening from within" because of the overcrowding inside. A writer for The Wilson Quarterly wrote in 1995 that the Dulles Main Terminal and the TWA Flight Center demonstrated how Saarinen "push[ed] design beyond the confines of the Modern Movement". A writer for The New York Times said in 2003 that the Dulles Airport Main Terminal, like Saarinen's nearly-contemporary North Christian Church, "immediately seizes even the casual onlooker's eye with its dramatic shape and carries it heavenward". The next year, the writer Mark Gottdiener praised the exterior as a "dramatic, austere statement" but said that the interior, particularly the inefficiency of the mobile lounges, was inadequate. Roger K. Lewis wrote in 2010 that the terminal had aged well over the years, not only because the interiors were so easily adaptable to different uses, but also because the terminal's design was simple yet memorable. Over the years, the building's design has also evoked comparisons to birds. Awards and architectural influence The Greater Washington Board of Trade gave the terminal building an award for its design in 1964, and Saarinen's firm received an honor award from the American Institute of Architects (AIA) in 1966 for the terminal's design. A 1976 poll of American architects ranked it the country's third-best design, tied with Fallingwater, and one of the most impactful buildings constructed in the U.S. since the American Revolution. and the terminal was also included in the 2013 PBS documentary and companion book 10 Buildings that Changed America. When the terminal was first expanded in the 1970s, there were calls for the Dulles Main Terminal to be added to the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). This would have made it one of the youngest-ever NRHP listings, it was deemed eligible for NRHP listing that month, on the merits of its design. However, the Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission did not submit the nomination. A 2010 Washington Post article stated that the terminal had not been added to the NRHP because of the FAA's concerns that such a designation would disrupt airport operations. When the midfield terminals at Dulles Airport were developed, they were built of glass and metal to avoid drawing attention away from the Main Terminal's concrete structure. The original terminal at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in Taoyuan, Taiwan, was modeled after Dulles Airport's Main Terminal; the buildings were so visually similar that the Taiwanese government once erroneously printed passports depicting the Dulles Main Terminal. Other airport terminals drew comparison to the Dulles Main Terminal, including the former passenger terminal at Montréal–Mirabel International Airport and Terminal 2 at San Diego International Airport. ==See also==