McNamara Terminal/Northwest WorldGateway,
Detroit Metropolitan Airport
Romulus, Mich.
SmithGroup

A huge new terminal serves as a world gateway for a resurgent Detroit

By John Gallagher

© Justin Maconochie

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

When Detroit Metro’s old Davey Terminal was shiny new in 1966, the airport handled 4 million travelers a year. By 2000, annual passenger traffic had swelled to 35 million, and Northwest was carrying 75 percent of the load. For many years, the airport, run by the local Wayne County government, coped with growth by building one concourse after another off of the existing terminals. Those snaking concourses created long walks and lengthy connection times. By the mid-90s, enough was enough. Cramped, inefficient, and woefully overcrowded, Northwest’s biggest hub needed a complete overhaul.

Not just another concourse, the new terminal had to serve as a connecting hub, a place where close to two thirds of all passengers flying in and out merely changed planes, never leaving the building. Many connecting airports send passengers scurrying from one concourse to the next, as Detroit Metro used to do. Northwest wanted the connections to be as seamless as possible.

Moreover, the airport needed to be built on a grand scale. As the leading U.S. carrier to Asia and a big presence in Europe, Northwest required gates to service jumbo jets overseas, as well as ones to handle its millions of domestic passengers.
Northwest also wanted the new terminal to showcase the airline as a major player and likely survivor in an industry that, even before 9/11, was facing brutal competition and consolidation.

Finally, the terminal had to function as a gateway to Detroit, a proud city emerging from a long economic night with a number of major building projects.

Detroit-based SmithGroup created a mile-long main building and a shorter parallel concourse connected by an underground pedestrian tunnel. With nearly 100 new shops and restaurants, high ceilings, and expansive sight lines, the design creates the sort of dramatic space that both Northwest and Detroit sought. SmithGroup centered its design on simplicity and restraint, using neutral colors, great expanses of 18-foot-tall windows, and wing-shaped ceilings that rise as high as 70 feet. A diagonal king-post truss system allows structural spans up to 87 feet, resulting in a column-free space that offers long views through the building and helps passengers orient themselves.

Combined with a new entry road and garage, the new terminal transforms Detroit Metro Airport. The older terminals now provide more room for other carriers and will be renovated over time. Set in the airport’s midfield area with runways on either side, the new terminal with the adjoining entry has 64 gates, 106 ticketing positions, nearly 100 e-ticket machines, and a three-stop overhead tram to speed passengers between connections. The smaller west concourse has 33 gates. An 800-foot-long tunnel connecting the east and west wings offers a changing sound-and-light experience. The new terminal includes some 9,000 Eames-designed seats with polished aluminum frames and vinyl sling seats and backs. It also has more than double the number of security checkpoints of the old terminal, a measure that has proved more important since 9/11.

Operationally, dual taxiways allow aircraft to move more efficiently on the ground, and gate flexibility provides for 10 wide-body, 62 domestic, and 25 commuter aircraft. Northwest’s old hub operation had just four luggage carousels; the new terminal includes 11 domestic and 7 international carousels. In the main concourse is a 39-foot-wide, black-granite water feature with choreographed jets of arcing water designed by WET Design. The 2-million-square-foot terminal complex cost $1.2 billion overall, including $650 million in construction costs, and took four years to complete.

See the August 2003 issue of Architectural Record for full coverage of this project.

Formal name of Project:
McNamara Terminal/Northwest WorldGateway, Detroit Metropolitan Airport
www.metroairport.com

Location:
Romulus, Mich.

Gross square footage:
2 million sq ft

Total construction cost:
$650 million

Owner:
Wayne County, Michigan

Architect:
SmithGroup, Inc.
500 Griswold Street
Detroit, MI 48226
(313) 983-3600 phone
(313) 983-3636 fax
www.smithgroup.com