by What is the connection between Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport, the Super Bowl, and the wordtween?
All of them started in 1967.
Rob Winn, 69, who was a tween when Terminal 1 opened, said the terminal has been sufficient while he waited for his transport on the forecourt on Friday.
Regarding his experience flying into and out of Terminal 1, he stated that it has been pleasant. He also mentioned that he is not really familiar with the facilities of the new terminal, which is expected to open in September in its first of two phases.
After the first phase of the new terminal opens, the existing Terminal 1, which now has 14 gates in use, will be dismantled.
According to the airport, the first phase will have 19 gates in a more contemporary, attractive, and effective facility.
Along with a number of public art initiatives, such as a huge jellyfish sculpture in the concourse by artist Matthew Mazzotta, there will be thirty eateries.
Two abstract sculptures by Walter J. Hood, an academic and artist, are being built next to the entrance ramp to the new terminal’s ground transit plaza, which opened on July 16. The biggest of the two is forty feet tall.
In addition, the airport said on Tuesday that a new three-lane road will open on August 1st, offering a continuous, high-capacity route straight to Terminals 1 and 2.
The second phase of the new terminal, which includes 11 gates, is expected to be finished in 2028. A parking plaza with over 5,200 parking spaces was finalized in June.
The airport claims that in order to handle additional passengers, the new terminal is required.
Compared to 2.5 million passengers when Terminal 1 opened in 1967, over 25 million people passed through the San Diego airport in 2024.
According to airport estimates, the number of passengers passing through both terminals each year would rise to 39 million by 2035, which is the maximum number of people the airport can handle with the additional terminal.
The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, a planning organization that oversees the daily operations of the airport and acts as the long-term planning body for air travel in the area, is leading the new Terminal 1 project.
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In addition to federal funding totaling $75 million through the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act’s Airport Terminals Program, the new Terminal 1 is a $3.8 billion project financed by airline leases and operating agreements.
The county’s planning agency, SANDAG, has suggested public transit infrastructure projects at the airport, which the airport authority has promised to carry out.
The architectural history of the existing Terminal 1
The brutalist aesthetic of the facility, which is defined by raw concrete and imposing, blocky shapes that reflect the taste of the era, is discussed by airport terminal architect Joseph Barden in his essay about the architectural style of the current Terminal 1.
Barden claims that Terminal 1 was constructed before jet bridges, coinciding with the American commercial aviation industry’s mainstreaming.
According to Barden, the terminal’s two-story rotundas are a result of the advantages of parking several aircraft on one circumference.
According to Barden, a rotunda arrangement was ultimately less desirable for future terminal buildings at SAN and throughout the world due to the space required for more passenger seating, restrooms, and services.
Architects’ professional society says that Brutalism is characterized by unusually shaped structures with rough surfaces that amplify its size and power.
Travelers congregated in the forecourt of Terminal 1 find the waffle pattern in the concrete facade and overhang to be a welcoming feature, according to Barden.
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According to Barden, Terminal 1 is a unique architectural style that floats on thin dendriform, or treelike, columns. The architects may have been influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Johnson Wax Headquarters.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation claims that in order to accommodate new social and commercial endeavors, Wright integrated modern materials and structures with customs of communal organization at the Johnson Wax Headquarters, which has dendriform columns similar to those at the airport.
According to the foundation, the architect of Johnson Wax Headquarters engaged in radical conservatism by considering the past while speculating about the future.
Travelers congregated in the forecourt of Terminal 1 find the waffle pattern in the concrete facade and overhang to be a welcoming feature, according to Barden.
According to Barden, the overhang is supported by slender, tree-like columns that form what is effectively a vast canopy for solar shade.
