Portland International Airport–Main Terminal

The showpiece of the new main terminal for the beloved Portland International Airport is a stunning mass timber roof that both celebrates Oregon’s history of forest product innovation and serves to consolidate 80 years of expansion and renovation into one floorplate. Comprised of approximately 3.3 million board feet locally sourced Douglas Fir, the roof supports multiple goals: cost, constructability, sustainability, resiliency, and regional identity.

More than 2.6 million board feet of glulam beams and heavy timber structure, as well as 400,000 square feet of mass plywood panels was procured from a diverse array of local landowners and Pacific Northwest tribes across the region within a 600-mile radius. Hyla Woods, Skokomish Tribe, Anne and Richard Hanshcu, and the Nature Conservancy provided the beautiful Douglas Fir material for the terminal redevelopment.

The roof was fully prefabricated over the course of a year, with construction divided into 18 pieces called “cassettes.” Each cassette includes mass timber and steel superstructure, skylights up to 70 ft long by 30 ft wide, insulation, mechanical components, and finishes. After prefabrication completion, the cassettes, the largest of which is 220 ft by 110 ft, were installed over several nights in 2022 during a four-hour window when there were no passengers or occupants below the construction area.