The I-shaped building encompasses two levels: the upper for departing passengers and the lower for arrivals, each with its own access road. Check-in and security occupy the upper level just inside the entrance, and baggage claim, customs, and an outdoor public garden comprise the lower level. Beyond security, two parallel concourses, with retail at the centre, are linked by a pedestrian passage that provides sweeping views of the airfield.
Kansas City International Airport’s New Terminal by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson.
Description of project by SOM
The redevelopment of Kansas City International Airport (KCI) is the largest single infrastructure project in the history of Kansas City. Built to replace the existing, overcrowded terminals originally built in 1972—with a single, highly sustainable 1.1-million-square-foot building, the project significantly increases passenger capacity, with a design deeply informed by residents throughout the city. The new terminal reimagines the passenger experience—embodying the region's rich culture and elevating the airport into a place that is inclusive and accessible to all.
An intuitive layout
The new terminal—designed, planned, and engineered by SOM, with design-builder Clark | Weitz | Clarkson (CWC)—brings KCI far into the future. It brings all airline operations under one roof, with a 6,000-space parking garage just steps away, to create a seamless journey for arrivals and departures alike. The airport, originally built as a series of three smaller terminals for 3.8 million annual passengers, is now capable of serving more than 16 million travellers per year. The new terminal's 39 gates are used for domestic and international travel, and the layout enables the facility to expand by another 11 gates in the future.
The I-shaped building encompasses two levels: the upper for departing passengers and the lower for arrivals, each with its own access road and curb. Check-in and security occupy the upper level just inside the entrance, and baggage claim, customs, and an outdoor public garden comprise the lower level. Beyond security, two parallel concourses with retail at the centre are linked by a pedestrian passage that provides sweeping views of the airfield. All post-security spaces are on the same level—a design move that creates an easier journey for all passengers.
Kansas City International Airport’s New Terminal by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson.
Exceptional inclusivity and accessibility
Much of the decision-making behind the design draws inspiration from the values of Kansas City. Beginning in 2017, SOM’s team of architects, planners, and structural engineers, alongside Edgemoor, CWC, and Kansas City Aviation Department (KCAD) representatives, fanned out across six city council districts and into neighbours in Kansas, meeting thousands of people in community centres, police stations, and churches. Through dozens of meetings, the aspirations for the terminal became clear—the building had to convey a sense of place, provide comfort and convenience for passengers, and be welcoming to all. This mandate for inclusion was strengthened when, later that year, the mayor and city council issued a resolution calling for the terminal to be “the most accessible in the world.”
Accessibility became the guiding principle for the design. All signage uses large fonts. The curbs at the access roads are cut wide for wheelchair van access. Every gate desk, check-in position, and info desk is set to a wheelchair-accessible height. Every restroom block has a dedicated nursing room, a family restroom, and a private space for changing clothes, as well as stalls that surpass the required dimensions. Extending this spirit of inclusion, the design team also created two large All-Gender restrooms, with floor-to-ceiling partitions for privacy, as well as motorized changing tables and animal relief areas.
A series of amenities enhance the accessibility of the terminal to broad segments of the public. A sensory room, divided into private play spaces, offers solace to children with disabilities and their families as they prepare to board or rest after a long journey. A “quiet room,” developed in collaboration with a local dementia advocacy group, accommodates prayer and meditation and gives people with dementia a relaxing place to stay before departing. The Kansas City Air Travel Experience simulator, accessible to the public by appointment, provides passengers who are unfamiliar or uncomfortable with air travel the chance to “test run” in the days before a trip by entering a full-size mock-up of an aircraft cabin—complete with seats, the bulkhead, and a restroom.
An inspiring entry, an inviting interior
The aesthetic of the terminal itself plays a major role in creating a welcoming setting. Departing travellers are greeted by a grand and transparent entrance of glass and copper-coloured aluminium. Overhead, a long-span roof provides a generous, 35-foot-long overhang covering the sidewalk and departures curb, and continues inside to create a smooth visual transition from the exterior to the column-free interior. The roof is complemented by a natural hemlock ceiling and supported by a single span of Y-columns—uniting the warmth of the natural material with the practicality of the steel structure.
SOM selected natural materials for much of the interiors—the timber ceilings continue throughout the building, and marble terrazzo covers the floors. Inside the Check-In Hall, a massive, 732-foot-long wall is clad in local Missouri limestone, which was excavated from the same quarry used for the Missouri State Capitol, Union Station, and civic buildings throughout Kansas City. This wall serves as the backdrop to a kinetic sculpture—titled, “The Air Up There,” and designed by Missouri-born artist Nick Cave—that is made of thousands of colourful wind spinners and conveys the wonder of travel. A series of colourful mosaics cut and preserved from the site’s previous terminal have been placed throughout the floors of the concourses, maintaining the memory of the original building.
Kansas City International Airport’s New Terminal by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson.
Embodying the city’s identity
The kinetic sculpture is the first of a total of 27 works of art spread throughout the terminal. The piece is part of a comprehensive public art program, in which one per cent of the entire project budget—$5.6 million—was dedicated to commissioning local and international artists. Soo Sunny Park, Leo Villareal, Willie Cole, and a host of other artists contributed to the terminal’s sense of place in a variety of ways—from honouring Kansas City’s moniker as the “City of Fountains” to evoking its critical contribution to the history of jazz.
Integrating the arrivals experience with nature
Arriving travellers walk through the concourses to the escalators that lead down to the baggage claim area. Like the upper floor, these spaces are finished in terrazzo underfoot and Douglas fir wood overhead. Besides the baggage claim, a series of glass doors open onto the public garden—bringing natural light inside while providing travellers with the kind of outdoor space that is rarely found in airports. Here, the organization of seating and trees mimics the circular form of KCI’s original terminals and adds one more fountain to a city well known for its ornamental water features.
An efficient structure
The structural design of the terminal exemplifies what an integrated multidisciplinary design firm can accomplish. Throughout much of the building, the architecture and engineering are one and the same, with exposed structural steel columns and beams supporting the long-span roof. The departures curb and check-in hall together form the building’s signature space, and the structure is a significant part of the experience and aesthetic. The Y-columns support a 100-foot-long clear span, the cantilever overhanging the road, and built-up steel box girders spaced 30 feet apart across the ceiling. Together, these elements exhibit a robust appearance that complements the welcoming nature of the terminal.
The spacing of the columns throughout the terminal was determined by programmatic requirements. Organized in a grid that runs throughout much of the building, most of the columns are spaced 30 feet apart—a strategy that enabled sustainable, modular construction, while also giving the terminal the ability to easily adapt the terminal as the needs of travellers change over time. The terminal building itself actually comprises 14 independent structures, each separated by expansion joints and combined into one building. There are variations among each piece—the structures range from steel braced frames and moment frames to a reinforced concrete beam and slab system with shear walls on the lower level. SOM, working closely with the design-build team, designed each structure with three main goals: to minimize material use, speed up construction, and reduce costs.
Kansas City International Airport’s New Terminal by SOM. Photograph by Lucas Blair Simpson.
A women-led team
Edgemoor Infrastructure & Real Estate, the developer of the terminal, and the city endeavoured to exceed industry standards in creating a design and construction team headlined by women-owned businesses. A total of 54 women-owned businesses have worked on this project, and the number of women on the construction team tripled the industry average for participation, at 8 per cent. SOM’s team, from project management, to design, and structural engineering, has been led by women throughout the New York and Washington, D.C. studios.
Sustainability
Kansas City International Airport is the first and largest LEED v4 GOLD BD+C: NC terminal/concourse project in the U.S. Midwest, and just the second in the entire United States. The building also has goals in place to run on renewable energy in the future. It runs entirely on electricity, and a solar farm is planned for construction to convert all airport operations to green energy. Natural lighting illuminates the building by day. The parking garage, which was designed by BNIM, provides electric vehicle charging. Many of the materials are sourced locally, and the wood finishes are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council as products obtained from responsibly managed forests.
SOM’s master plan includes a comprehensive conservation plan, which maintains a series of native trees and grasses from KCI’s original construction. With this mix of preservation, along with a major emphasis on warmth and PG 2 /3 inclusion, the terminal is one of the most striking new places in Kansas City—a civic destination that prepares the midwestern city for the long run.
