Sit­ed at the ter­mi­nus of the Air­port Trans­porta­tion Sys­tem (ATS) exten­sion, the Mul­ti­modal Ter­mi­nal at O’Hare Inter­na­tion­al Air­port com­bines light tran­sit, com­muter rail, region­al bus­es, shut­tles, car rental, and longer-term park­ing into a 3,000,000 gsf facility. 

The cen­tral focus of pas­sen­ger expe­ri­ence is a glass clad ter­mi­nal pavil­ion that cel­e­brates speed, move­ment, and tran­si­tions on the air­port cam­pus. Train arrival at the build­ing is cel­e­brat­ed through views to and through the build­ing. As pas­sen­gers arrive, they descend through a light filled space that is punc­tu­ate by art and archi­tec­ture. Two illu­mi­nat­ed cor­ri­dors inform move­ment to the park­ing lev­els beyond by way of soar­ing daylit atri­ums. For pas­sen­gers arriv­ing by car, long-term park­ing on the top lev­el is bro­ken up by two plant­ed court­yards that serve as moments of sur­prise and wayfinding. 

Art inte­gra­tion for the build­ing was exten­sive and includes a col­lec­tion of per­ma­nent instal­la­tions com­mis­sioned by the City of Chica­go and curat­ed by Theast­er Gates. 

Chicago’s com­mit­ment to sus­tain­abil­i­ty was fun­da­men­tal. The new Ter­mi­nal is antic­i­pat­ed to remove approx­i­mate­ly 1.3 mil­lion vehi­cles from the cen­tral ter­mi­nal road­ways, reduc­ing traf­fic and car­bon diox­ide emis­sions. The project is expect­ed to receive LEED Sil­ver Certification.

Amidst the stress and chaos asso­ci­at­ed with trav­el, the Mul­ti­modal Ter­mi­nal is a place of calm and beauty. 

Client: Chica­go Depart­ment of Avi­a­tion
Pro­gram: New Air­port Ter­mi­nal for Rental Cars, Pub­lic Park­ing, Region­al Bus­es and Hotel Shut­tles
Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion: Pend­ing LEED Sil­ver
Size: 3,000,000 sqft
Cost: $841,000,000

Select­ed Awards/​Honors:
2023 AIA Chica­go Design Excel­lence Awards, Archi­tec­ture XL.
2021 CODA­worx Award.
Final­ist Trans­porta­tion, Col­lab­o­ra­tion of Design + Art, 2021.

Project Fea­tures:
World Archi­tects— ​“Mul­ti-Modal Ter­mi­nal, O’Hare Inter­na­tion­al Air­port“
Chica­go Tri­bune— ​“City opens $841 mil­lion park­ing and rental car facil­i­ty at O’Hare Inter­na­tion­al Air­port”
 

Col­lab­o­ra­tive Part­ners:
Tran­Sys­tems
Delta Engi­neer­ing
Singh & Asso­ciates
Walk­er Park­ing
Austin Pow­er Partners

Pho­tog­ra­phy Cred­it: © Kendall McCaugh­er­ty, Hall+Merrick; Alan Tansey