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Airport Advisory Board hears preliminary updates on airport design ahead of community open houses

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The Aspen/Pitkin County Airport is seen on June 23, 2025, with EcoFlight. The community will have the chance to attend multiple open houses to hear about potential designs for the new terminal.
Austin Colbert/The Aspen Times

The Airport Advisory Board met with members of its ZGF Architects design team, the architecture firm that the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport has contracted to design the new terminal as part of the Airport Modernization Project, to hear early updates on the terminal design process last Thursday, Oct. 16. 

The team, which is still in preliminary design stages, opened the discussion by reviewing some concepts that they integrated into their Portland International Airport terminal expansion design, portions of which have been complete since 2024. Both the Washington Post and Travel + Leisure gave the terminal design high praise in 2025. 

“This is an update that represents the first roughly seven or eight weeks of the concept design of the terminal,” ZGF Associate Principle Tony Martinez told the board on Thursday. 



The ZGF team particularly drew attention to their collaboration with local businesses and families who were integrating local materials into building supplies. 

“There’s a small family in Oregon that was interested in using what would have been burnt up wood garbage and turned (it) into this new hardwood floor that we were able to use at the airport,” Martinez said. “Now (it’s) a product that’s for sale nationwide. It’s an example of how the design team was able to partner with local businesses to create a product and it’s an example of what we hope to do with your local community and your local businesses.”




The ZGF team has emphasized throughout the process an emphasis on “biophilic” design. Biophilic design incorporates natural elements throughout designed spaces to make occupants feel connected with nature in indoor spaces. 

At the Portland International Airport, this is achieved through the use of local timber, the consistent presence of local, living plants, and large expansive spaces.

“We know that you guys have a very stressful condition at certain points of the year, and there’s opportunity through a biophilic design that we can do in (security checkpoint areas) to help de-stress,” Martinez said. “We talked about some of those ways in which we did that at PDX by introducing art and green space around those areas to help de-stress.”

For the Aspen/Pitkin County Airport, ZGF is hoping to present design ideas that incorporate this biophilic design, local design materials, artisans, and experts, and use materials that have a low-to-no carbon impact in the coming weeks and months as more input comes to light. The design phase of the terminal and runway construction is projected to run through 2026.

“We’ve got a great marble quarry about 40 miles from here, fabulous marble,” said Ann Mullins, Airport Advisory board member. “We used a red sandstone for the renovation of the Wheeler Opera House. It comes from a Wyoming quarry, which is just a beautiful, beautiful stone. The other thing you refer to (was) the use (of) wood. Fir was most commonly used in the mines because of its strength.” 

Members of the ZGF team and other stakeholders in the Airport modernization project were available for discussion with the public at an Airport Modernization Project open house on Wednesday, Oct. 15. ZGF will be participating in additional community open houses on Oct. 30 at the Hoffman Hotel in Basalt from 5 to 7 p.m., and on Dec. 4, with time and location still to be announced.

The Airport Modernization Project is also seeking public input via a design prioritization survey available on their webpage. The survey will be available through Nov. 7 and can be accessed at https://www.aspenairport.com/modernization/.

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