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EXCITING NEWS ABOUT OUR
AREA
Airport design on the
table
Thursday, March 20, 2008
By Daniel Carson,
News Herald
PANAMA CITY
Panama City-Bay County
International Airport
Authority members on
Thursday got an update
on the design of the new
airport’s terminal
building.
During a board workshop,
authority members viewed
a presentation from
Washington, D.C.-based
HNTB Architecture Inc.,
which took over design
work for several new
airport facilities last
year.
Airport Authority
Chairman Joe Tannehill
and other board members
asked HNTB officials to
look into possible
changes in the
facilities’ exterior
color and make the new
airport’s public safety
building more
compatible, design-wise,
with other structures.
Tannehill said he liked
the “people flow” design
of the terminal better
than the previous work
done by Bechtel
Infrastructure.
He and other board
members asked HNTB
officials to consider a
different exterior color
for the terminal and
other buildings, with
Tannehill, Rick
Koehnemann, and Andy
McKenzie objecting to
the gray color proposed
by the firm.
“I’d like it to be a
little lighter than what
was shown,” Tannehill
said after the meeting.
The architectural firm
has been talking to the
airport authority on a
monthly basis regarding
new airport design work,
Tannehill said.
The chairman said the
airport and HNTB were
looking to get terminal
building costs down and
improve its
environmental aspects.
Tannehill said the last
estimate for the about
100,000-square-foot
terminal building was
$33 million.
“We expect to come in
under that,” Tannehill
said.
HNTB project manager
Scott Steckler said new
design elements included
a move from
floor-to-ceiling windows
to “strip-type” windows
on the terminal’s north
and south sides.
Steckler said the
strip-type windows would
still allow for full
views from the terminal.
There also are plans to
plant trees indigenous
to Florida around the
terminal building,
Tannehill said.
“It’s going to look like
Florida when people get
off the plane,”
Tannehill said.
HNTB should report back
to the board within 30
days on recommended
changes made Thursday,
Tannehill said.
In related news,
Tannehill said
groundwork at the new
airport’s West Bay site
was proceeding on
schedule.
He said the new airport
is currently scheduled
to open in the second
quarter of 2010.
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