Calatrava, SOM in the running to design O’Hare expansion

A dozen local and international architecture firms submitted their applications this month

(Credit: Dllu, Pixabay)
(Credit: Dllu, Pixabay)

Architecture firms are lining up for the chance to design the city’s $8.7 billion expansion of O’Hare Airport.

A dozen firms submitted applications before this month’s deadline to lead the multi-year renovation, which is set to rebuild Terminal 2 and add new gates and a hotel to Terminal 5, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Competing firms include local heavyweights such as Skidmore, Owings & Merrill and Perkins+Will, as well as Santiago Calatrava’s Zurich-based shop and Danish architect Bjarke Ingels.

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City aviation leaders plan to award contracts to two companies. The first-place team will design the new terminal, and the runner-up will design a pair of new satellite concourses.

The city’s scorching industrial market has led firm after firm to invest in or lease warehouse space around the nation’s second-busiest airport. [Chicago Tribune]—Alex Nitkin