LaGuardia Airport Terminal B

LaGuardia Airport Terminal B in New York marks a full rebuild of one of the United States’ most scrutinized airports. HOK’s airport architecture centers on a transparent four-story, 850,000-square-foot Arrivals and Departures Hall—the terminal’s civic front door—connected to midfield gates by two 450-foot-long, 65-foot-high steel-truss pedestrian bridges. The overall Terminal B program is reported at 1.3 million square feet with 35 gates, 16 security lanes, and nine baggage carousels.

Rather than peninsular concourses, the island-and-bridges scheme moves the terminal about 600 feet closer to the Grand Central Parkway. HOK states that the configuration increased airside capacity by 50%, recaptured 40 acres for airside operations, and allowed the new terminal to rise over the existing structure with minimal gate closures—shaving nearly two years from construction and reducing cost. Passengers share soaring sequences with 60-foot ceilings and floor-to-ceiling windows toward the airfield and Manhattan, while indoor green spaces recall New York pocket parks.

Common-use check-in technology, a centralized TSA checkpoint, and an energy-aware baggage system support operational flexibility among multiple carriers. Sustainability credentials include LEED v4 Gold—described on the HOK page as the world’s first airport to earn that rating—and Envision Platinum under the Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure’s v3 framework. Resilience measures place critical systems on upper levels or in protected underground concrete against coastal storm risk.

Delivered as the largest public-private partnership in U.S. aviation history at a reported $5.1 billion project cost, Terminal B was advanced with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, LaGuardia Gateway Partners, and partner firms including WSP USA. The terminal design shows how infrastructure can regain civic presence while solving constrained airfield geometry.