NEW YORK, NY — With the opening this week of the new Terminal B Arrivals and Departures Hall (also known as a headhouse), Governor Andrew Cuomo’s vision for a unified LaGuardia Airport is becoming a reality. The facility was developed and operated by LaGuardia Gateway Partners (which includes Vantage Airport Group) and designed by HOK and WSP USA.

The four-story, 850,000-square-foot facility houses passenger services and amenities, including airline check-in, baggage drop-off and pick-up, and security. These enhancements are supplemented by food, beverage, and retail options. The steel-framed terminal, with its linear, precisely articulated and dynamic form, presents a modern, cohesive face to both the landside and airside. It replaces a disjointed patchwork of structures with one that follows the curves of the Grand Central Parkway (GCP) and the airport access roads.

Connected to two island concourses by a pair of 450-foot-long steel truss pedestrian bridges, the headhouse serves as the nexus to the new Terminal B. From these transparent-walled bridges, elevated 65 feet above grade, arriving and departing passengers can enjoy panoramic skyline and airfield views as taxiing planes pass beneath them. The bridges enabled the design team to move the terminal 600 feet closer to the GCP. This approach, on which HOK collaborated with Vantage Airport Group, allowed for the construction of two additional miles of aircraft taxi lanes that will reduce airport ground delays.

The team designed a simplified circulation network comprising over eight miles of new roadway and 20 new bridges that provide a connection from the airport to the GCP and New York City. This roadway network becomes part of the overall airport aesthetic. The roadways in front of the headhouse frame the GCP, and its column structures align with the headhouse design to provide one cohesive visual.

“LaGuardia Airport is one of New York City’s most significant civic buildings. Reconnecting the experience and quality of this airport with its extraordinary city was the prime focus of our design work at LaGuardia Terminal B,” said Carl Galioto, FAIA, HOK’s President and New York office Managing Principal. “Our design concept focuses on two main components: a superior passenger experience and an exterior architectural expression that conveys a civic presence from the Grand Central Parkway. The building is a metaphor for New York, a city of islands and bridges, and the terminal is connected to the city with views of the skyline from the passenger bridges. Our ambition was to help transform LaGuardia into an airport with a distinct civic identity worthy of this metropolis.”