Building an Airport and an Extended Family:

The Relationships Behind a Terminal Replacement at San Diego International Airport

Design-build projects have gained popularity in recent years, partly because design and construction work are covered by a single contract, and partly because cohesion among trades typically yields successful results. According to the Design-Build Institute of America, design-build “is intended to be a highly collaborative, fully integrated undertaking that is built on trust, mutual respect, teamwork, innovation and creative problem solving.”

For the design-build team that undertook the replacement of Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport, cohesion led to not only outstanding results despite significant challenges, but also strong friendships. Connections spoke to several team members to learn more.

Background

The $3.8 billion project began in 2020 when the Turner-Flatiron Joint Venture and Gensler design-build team won the contract and immediately brought Syska on board for MEP, technology/low voltage, vertical transportation, and sustainable design consulting services. The first phase of the project, just completed, included 19 gates, an elevated roadway for departures, outdoor check-in pavilions, a five-story parking plaza, food and retail concessions, a baggage handling system, and an outdoor deck with harbor and skyline views.

Ajay Babla, the design and construction program manager at San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, says the overarching objective of the replacement was to enhance the airport customer experience while addressing growing demand for air travel and increasing capacity. He describes the former 1960s-era terminal as “aging and outdated.”

The design strategy aligned with this objective, adds Nathan Ouren, the Gensler project design director. “Terminal 1 is a symbolic welcome mat,” he explains. “We wanted to make the customer experience as elevated as possible through the exterior roadways, signage, landscape, all the way through the inside until passengers board their planes.” Highlights of the design features include a luminous wave wall, earth tones that frame depictions of canyons, hiking trails, sea caves, and mountains, and blue mosaic tile porticos in the restrooms.

Hurdles

Although the design conveys a sense of calm and relaxation, the behind-the-scenes experiences were hardly smooth sailing. Ajay identifies some hurdles that arose during this five-year phase: a global pandemic, generational cost escalation, San Diego’s first hurricane/tropical storm, along with “a thousand issues big and small.”

On the engineering front, specific challenges included utility systems. As Nathan points out, the authority has its own water, fire protection, and electricity systems outside of the city’s jurisdiction, but these systems connect to San Diego Gas & Electric. That meant coordination with a variety of authorities having jurisdiction.

It also meant extensive coordination among team members. Ajay notes that during construction, the existing terminal for the one-runway airport had to continue operating serving large volumes of passengers. Nathan recalls a related challenge that took place early in the project: the removal of a pedestrian bridge over the roadway to the existing terminal. Since the road could not be fully closed, the team had to work in 20-minute shifts across a three-day period, always keeping one lane open. Fortunately, the team pulled it off without a hitch.

Garrett Maxon, electrical engineer at Syska, says that the need for seamless operations posed special challenges for systems design. “A lot of existing infrastructure, buildings, and support sites had to be demolished to make way for this building, and we had to move all of the operations somewhere else on the site, while keeping much of the existing infrastructure in play where required,” he says. “Staging was critical.”

One of the most complex relocations involved a 12 KV loop that feeds the airport’s electricity. “It had to be relocated at the very last possible minute and routed through a 15-foot corridor,” Garrett recalls. “We had to work closely with the team’s civil and geotechnical experts to make this happen. Looking back at it now, I don’t know how we managed it, but we did.”

The engineering team also wanted to make the systems energy-efficient yet unobtrusive. Through a hybrid displacement strategy, Syska routed HVAC through structural columns, which yielded two benefits: The systems were hidden, and they distributed the air evenly. This strategy also contributed to an energy use intensity that was far lower than that established in the project design document and helped propel the project toward LEED certification. For more details on the sustainability components of the terminal replacement, please read this article, recently published in Syska’s latest corporate sustainability report.

“Terminal 1 is a symbolic welcome mat. We wanted to make the customer experience as elevated as possible through the exterior roadways, signage, landscape, all the way through the inside until passengers board their planes.”

Relationships

Strong internal relationships helped the team overcome every hurdle. For many of the team members, the project represented an extension of earlier collaborations on another design-build contract: the Federal Inspection Station Facility, also known as the International Arrivals building, completed in 2018. Sean Marcel, Syska’s principal in charge, recalls meeting Viry Martino of Turner on that project. “We viewed ourselves as babies who didn’t belong with all these senior folks,” he remembers. “And here we are later as the leaders of this $3.8 billion project.”

Viry says that those “early trusting relationships” formed during the FIS project made it easier to have conversations about complexities surrounding the terminal replacement project. “Our closeness as individuals helped us resolve every issue,” she reports.

Co-location in a project management complex only strengthened such connections. Viry, who served for much of the project as a terminal design manager for the Turner-Flatiron joint venture (she was subsequently promoted to Preconstruction Manager), enjoyed the social interactions that stemmed from a simple walk across the complex. “The design team members were my people, my family,” she states. Sean describes her as the unofficial design team’s “Mom, best friend, and therapist.”

Mike Rucinski, project director at Gensler, notes that co-location is a hallmark of design-build, and one of the main reasons why the relationships among team members were so close-knit. Once the Covid restrictions eased and everyone could speak face to face, conversations “floated” around the office. “If everyone is behind a screen and you’re only communicating when you’re in a meeting, you don’t have that personal connection,” he says.

Regular discussions also led to streamlined client meetings. Garrett points to one of the reasons they were conflict-free: “We had our own separate meetings before the ‘big room’ meetings and could present a united front,” he states.

“If everyone is behind a screen and you’re only communicating when you’re in a meeting, you don’t have that personal connection,”

Celebrations

The phase one relationships culminated in an overnight trip to Las Vegas, during which team members went out to dinner to celebrate and took a return flight that was one of the first to arrive at the new terminal. “It was great to see it firsthand,” says Nathan. Mike agrees: “It was fun to see stakeholders out there, getting people’s take on the new space.” Sean terms the experience as “beautiful.”

Today, the team is pleased that passengers are enjoying the new terminal. The San Diego Union-Tribune interviewed several of them on opening day. One described the terminal as “so big, so open and so clean.” Another gave the terminal a “10 out of 10,” adding that “They did a fabulous job, from the outdoor patio to the spacious walls, to the furniture, to the outlets, the design, the food hall – everything is absolutely amazing.” And a retired pilot praised the spaciousness and quiet. “The vibe is really chill,” he said.

Ajay’s comments about the phase one results reflect those of the design-build team. He says, “I’m proud that we were able to create a special place for San Diego, one that the community has embraced more fully than anyone could have expected. The joy and amazement that people have expressed when they talk about the new terminal has been fulfilling.”

“10 out of 10,. They did a fabulous job, from the outdoor patio to the spacious walls, to the furniture, to the outlets, the design, the food hall – everything is absolutely amazing.”