A design and construction team is using prefabricated modules to create two temporary passenger concourses as part of the $2.6 billion Terminal 3 West modernization project at San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The Turner-Gensler-TEF team broke ground on the project last month, which will renovate the 650,000-square-meter western half of Terminal 3, including a seismic retrofit, expanded security screening and new passenger amenities. The project will also create 200,000 square meters of additional space that is expected to open in the fall of 2027.
The 1,000-foot west corridor and 400-foot east corridor were fabricated as 11 modules at an air cargo yard and transported across the airfield for 11 consecutive nights last month on self-propelled modular conveyors provided by the firm Italian Fagioli.
“We wanted to turn T3 into a construction zone on the ground so the work wouldn’t have to go through the airfield,” says Judi Mosqueda, SFO’s director of development. Airport staff and the design and construction team worked together to come up with the plan for two corridors that will not have to be constantly reconfigured during construction.
Also, the team wasn’t able to close any doors until July, says Michael Fahrenholz, Turner’s senior project manager. “That really slowed down the start of the project. The idea of prefab took off. So right before Thanksgiving, the hallways will be open and we can start heavy demolition.”
The team began prefabrication in February and began building foundations for the corridors, says Nino Adamo, Turner’s vice president and general manager. The 30-foot-tall sections were transported about a mile to their final destination.
The temporary corridors will have windows with views of the airfield, audio recordings and artwork representing the Bay Area. When disassembled, they could be stored and reused for other applications, Adamo adds.
The T3 program is the largest piece of Phase 1.5 of SFO’s Ascent program, which consists of pandemic disruption relocation projects. Another project, which includes cargo facilities, parking structures and improvements to Customs and Border Protection facilities, will begin in the next two years, Mosqueda says.
The upgraded terminal is scheduled to open in the fall of 2027, with a six-story building housing concourses and office space in 2028.
