PDX Terminal Expansion Brings Forest Canopy Over Concourses

Picture walking through Portland International Airport’s expanded main terminal, dappled light filtering through a 9-acre mass timber roof onto a grove of live trees below just like a Pacific Northwest forest sprouting right over security checkpoints.

This is no mere facelift. The $1.5-billion PDX main terminal core (TCore) expansion, led by ZGF Architects, adds 175,000 square feet while slashing energy use per square foot in half, redefining aviation gateways with biophilic calm and adaptability.

Column-free, 100x150-foot spans create flexible floorplates for shifting TSA lines and check-in islands. It is crowned by an 18-million-pound glulam roof that is undulating to channel light and air and propped by Y-columns of grout-filled steel plate. Built over seven years while keeping PDX humming (Phase 1 opened August 2024; full completion early 2026), it’s the Port of Portland’s biggest project ever.

The PDX terminal expansion is the biggest project ever in the Port of Portland.

SMACNA Oregon & SW Washington firms delivered the metal magic:

Arctic entered via 2019 design-assist, balancing ZGF’s vision with robust HVAC. They installed temporary systems to condition live areas, then 700,000 pounds of duct, 34 air handlers, 24 CRAC/CRAH units and 1,000-plus diffusers. Seismic flex connectors bridged old/new structure quirks, says COO Aaron Vanrheen.
McKinstry tackled $30 million in cladding and decorative metal, including 127,000 square feet of sunshades, panels, louvers, flashings and even tree grates, as well as coordinating prefab roof modules the size of football fields, per Director James Slater.
DeaMor Skylights supplied 49 custom units (32,000 square feet of glass), knocked down for assembly on a 2.5-acre slab, then jacked 50 feet high and rolled over the existing terminal. “Ingenuity and sheer will,” says President Jody Moore.
Just Right Heating & Cooling, the Local 16 homegrown upstart, fabricated nearly 500,000 pounds of duct and tricky architectural panels/blinds on breathing mass timber. This included “thousands of non-square pieces, laser-cut one by one,” notes President Daniel Miranda.
Harder and JH Kelly rounded out plumbing, piping and electrical.

PDX exemplifies energy-efficient growth, prefab innovation and multi-firm coordination on a live airport site, proving sheet metal's pivotal role in resilient public infrastructure.

Published: March 6, 2026

SMACNews January/February 2026

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