DECEMBER 2014 \ BUILDING DIALOGUE \
77
Complexity
and
Collaboration
A Rubik’s Cube
of complex design
and engineering
feats packages
big building in
small site for
DIA’s new
Westin Hotel
and Transit
Center
W
hen Denver Internation-
al Airport opened its doors
and runways nearly 20 years
ago, it transformed the ex-
perience of air travel for
passengers flying in and out
of Colorado. Gone were the days of Denver’s
dowdy urban airport – convenient for city
dwellers, but operationally inefficient and
unremarkable in its design. In its place, re-
nowned Denver architect Curtis Fentress
designed the expressive Jeppesen Terminal
with its Teflon-coated, fiberglass tent roof
that continues to delight and surprise as it
materializes against the backdrop of Colo-
rado’s mountains and plains. Although it
initially evoked debate, the terminal’s iconic
form has elevated Denver’s airport to some-
thing akin to a functional work of art.
By 2008, when the facility hit its teen years,
DIA’s Manager of Aviation Kim Day recog-
nized the need for expansion. Redevelop-
ment plans for the south terminal evolved
from an earlier master plan to include an
on-site hotel, plaza, roadway improvements
and a commuter train terminal with tick-
eting, baggage claim and security screening,
along with expanded capacity of the ter-
minal-concourse train (the people-mover
WORDS:
Sarah Goldblatt, AIA
l it
ll
r ti
A Rubik’s Cube
of co plex design
and engineering
feats packages
big building in
small site for
DIA’s new
Westin Hotel
and Transit
Center
