The AIA San Francisco 2023 Design Awards honored the International Arrivals Facility at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (IAF at SEA) with the Commendation for Technology Excellence. This accolade celebrates projects in which ingenuity in the technical or technological aspects of the building design, engineering and construction greatly improved project outcomes.

The International Arrivals Facility, a welcoming gateway to the Pacific Northwest and the United States, was the most complex endeavor in the airport’s history. The design seamlessly integrates an existing concourse, and features a bridge, constructed over an active airfield, that has become a civic icon. 

The 85-foot-high pedestrian bridge immerses arriving passengers in panoramic mountain range views, and bares its structural features, echoing the cranes of Seattle’s industrial waterfront.  The integrated architectural and structural design enabled the bridge’s centerspan to be fabricated off-site, and swiftly hoisted into place, minimizing the impact of construction on airport operations.