Terminal E at Boston Logan International Airport adds 320,000 new square feet and additional gates, with 70,000 square feet of renovated space, to serve eight million passengers annually.

To form the terminal’s shape and orientation and develop sustainable strategies, the design team used extensive digital and physical modelling and analysis. The multi-story great hall, clerestory windows and signature undulating roof are generative forms based on this exploration. This analysis continued through construction to ensure that all built work was performing as predicted.

The expansive fenestration allows universal daylighting, including 5,500 square feet of photovoltaic glass panels on the southern façade that generate solar energy, and electrochromic glass on the north side to cut glare and solar gain throughout the terminal — one of the largest installations at a transit facility.
The envelope shape blocks summer solar gain while allowing solar gain in the winter. The roof is calibrated for a 500-year storm event, resisting the varying conditions of New England’s climate.

The interior volumes are cooled and heated using a hybrid system of energy recovery displacement ventilation combined with perimeter heating to minimize energy consumption. All lighting and water use is reduced via efficient fixtures and automated controls. Recycled and resilient materials were chosen throughout the building. This all-electric terminal is on the forefront of a campus-wide net-zero strategy, including electrification of apron vehicles, that reduces the building’s embodied and operational carbon, exceeding energy targets and cutting power consumption.

The terminal’s social value initiatives offer tangible community benefits. The terminal shape is designed as an airport noise barrier, shielding nearby neighborhoods. Airplanes at the gate are powered from the terminal, reducing hydrocarbon consumption and plane exhaust. All critical building systems are raised above the flood plain, protecting critical equipment and allowing for rapid return to service in an extreme flooding event.

All images credited to Ema Peter Photography.