By Delle Willett
Originally posted in San Diego Uptown News on April 8, 2022
Landscape Architect Patricia Trauth said it’s the “coolest, most demanding and exciting project of my career.”
She is talking about the re-creation of San Diego International Airport’s Terminal One, originally opened in 1967 with renovation begun in 2020 and scheduled to open in May, 2028.
Trauth explained that while Terminal One and Two will have many unifying elements, they also have their own identity— Terminal Two symbolically represents our beaches and the ocean, while One celebrates San Diego’s treasured canyons and riparian areas.
“We are focusing on the canyon,” she said. It is the busiest area where people will be going from point A to B, as they get dropped off and picked up.
Just east of the canyon area is a low point in the landscape with a retention basin for stormwater management—a perfect location for a riparian area where visitors can experience San Diego’s native plants and birds and admire three large and colorful bird sculptures. Forty to fifty feet tall, and celebrating the Pacific Flyway for migratory birds, the birds are created by artist Walter Hood.
Travelers, both coming and going, often have anxieties and concerns. It is Trauth’s focus to make them as comfortable as possible. “Anything we can do intuitively to help travelers feel more comfortable while getting them to their destination is our goal,” she commented.
San Diego is a destination airport. People who come here have expectations of visiting paradise. “We want the experience of San Diego to begin at the airport where visitors walk outside and hear seagulls cry nearby and see sailboats in the near distance.”
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