Talisa Shevavesh of architecture firm ZGF works in her studio on models of new airport designs.
Quick update: This article was written in 2020. The new PDX is here! Want to meet it?
If you were designing an airport several decades ago, physical models would've been your primary tool for visualizing the structure before building it in real life. These days, more and more architects rely on computer renderings and digital 3D tools. As a consequence, model making is becoming a somewhat rare craft.
But there are still plenty of leading architects who regard the tactility of making something by hand as crucial to their process. Count partner Gene Sandoval and the award-winning team at ZGF among them. The architects behind the fresh PDX designs have relied on a series of physical models, as they fine-tune plans for the new main terminal inspired by the craftsmanship and heritage of our region.
The model is a helpful visualization tool for the architects and builders bringing the project to life.
Those models are largely the handiwork of second-generation model maker Talisa Shevavesh — along with numerous design teams, high-tech machining equipment and even a few model-making robots. The largest and latest model of the terminal is perhaps the most extraordinary, measuring 20 by 30 feet with the woven wooden roof spanning an interior filled with “greenery” and plastic “travelers.” It was the perfect pandemic project for Talisa and her team, as it took months of painstaking work to design and build PDX in miniature.
We sat down with Talisa and Gene (via video chat, of course) to discuss the ins and outs of physically building, and rebuilding, the massive model; how the process influences their design decisions; and how one becomes a model maker in the first place.
The model of the airport's new main terminal is beautiful on its own. (Check out the model pictures.) How does the creation of a physical model like this influence the design process?
Gene: Physical models have been around since the advent of our profession. It's a way for us to truly see how things are put together. They come in different scales, materials and levels of detail according to where you are in the process of a project.
Recently, with the focus on computers, there's this kind of detachment from the materiality of the work. For PDX, we immediately knew we wanted to use physical models. We wanted to go back to the whole idea of making by hand, especially since the new main terminal prominently incorporates wood and natural elements.
We wanted to make sure that we were using our hands and letting the material tell us what it wants to be. And I think that's a significant reason why the model is worth it because it was really using our hands and letting the wood tell us the form and the resolution that it naturally is akin to.
ZGF partners Sharron van der Meulen and Gene Sandoval, right, take inspiration from the region's natural landscapes and cultural heritage.
Talisa, can you give us a crash course in building a model like this? Walk us through your process.
Talisa: The new main terminal has been a bit of a different process than most of our projects because we've built so many models as the design evolved. You could say this started four years ago when the project was more in its infancy when I was working closely with our design sub-teams to figure out smaller pieces of the architecture like roof pieces and windows. At the beginning of 2020, we wanted to see everything put together, so we started building this much larger model. It was just a matter of choosing how much of the building we wanted to build and at what scale. Ours is done at a half-inch scale — each half-inch equaling one foot — making this the largest model of the project at 20 by 30 feet.
What does a day in the life of a model maker look like for you?
Talisa: Beautiful chaos most times. [laughter] But I think a typical day with this team starts with some kind of model that we've been developing that we then take to our design teams to review together. A lot of the time I get the comment, “It doesn't look like I thought it would, having looked at it on the computer.” It's a lot of back and forth, switching elements out and building additional pieces to add onto it. My role is to help the designers visualize their thoughts and make the right decisions.
When it comes to assembling a large model like this one, what is the actual construction process like?
Talisa: This model is more on the sophisticated side of model building, as we lean heavily on digital fabrication. We bring in robots to make sure that the pieces are cut precisely. The model gets built in the computer first to make sure all of our parts are going to align the way that we were expecting them to, then we “hand it off” to the machine and the machine operator to cut it out. After that, we'll bring the different pieces to glue, nail and screw them together.
After studying architecture, Talisa followed her parents into making models, a challenging and technical craft.
Is it fair to say you're a second-generation model maker? And how do people react when they learn what you do for a living?
Talisa: Both of my parents built models when I was ... well, I guess they still build models. That was their main profession when I was a little kid. And when I got into high school, I started working at their studio and got into it in that back-end, roundabout way. I went through architecture school because my interest was sparked by building models for architects.
It is very niche in this day and age. A lot of people ask me, “Aren't computer renderings just as good these days?” That's the big curiosity because the video game industry has gotten so advanced and architectural renderings have followed really closely.
Gene, I've heard that you have a long history of working with the Portland International Airport. What does this project really mean to you?
Gene: I've been working as an architect with the airport since probably 1994. Having moved here from another country, the airport's my gateway to a different civilization so to speak. A different culture. It's a great honor and privilege to actually design what that gateway is — and one that represents who we are as a country, as a state and as a group of people. It's personal.
The most striking feature of the model is the to-scale representation of the new main terminal's stunning lattice roof.
What happens to the model once the airport is built?
Gene: The model is going to get used by all the construction consultants to see what they're doing. Eventually, we hope to display it where the public will see it up close, so they can get an introduction to the original designs.
Talisa, as a model maker, why is a project like this so important to you?
Talisa: I want to highlight how delightful it is to have models as part of the architectural process. Personally, I have not seen models so involved in architecture’s day-to-day work, so to have a project that's so technology-heavy — so much of the roof is generated with computer algorithms — but to come back and verify it with something more craftsman and artisanal as part of the process, I think that’s really special.
Tom Strong - Chief Executive Officer, Skokomish Indian Tribe, Skokomish Washington
"We're foresters in that we're stewards," says Tom Strong, Chief Executive Officer of the Skokomish Indian Tribe, which manages 2,000 acres of Washington forests for its 800 tribal members. "We're not cutting and planting, seeking to develop our lands into a commodity. Instead, we're doing it to restore the forest."
Over the past 100 years, the two dams on the North Fork Skokomish River have had a major impact on the entire ecosystem of Skokomish land. "We want to restore the entire Hood Canal watershed," Tom says. The forests are just one part.
Selling wood from Douglas fir trees the tribe selectively thinned will help fund this restoration. "We don't have an endless amount of money," Tom says. "But we would like to think we've got an endless amount of time."
Ben Hayes - Co-owner, Hyla Woods, Cherry Grove, Oregon
Ben Hayes is a sixth-generation forester who manages Hyla Woods, outside Cherry Grove, Oregon, with his father, Peter. He is also a sustainable-forestry consultant. At Hyla Woods, the Hayes experiment with selective thinning and patch cutting, instead of clear-cutting, to foster diversity of tree species, ages, and sizes.
"When you look 100 years out, having greater complexity in terms of species and the structure of the forest, you can increase the forest's resilience in the face of extreme weather and drought," he says.
"We're working toward a model of forestry that you could practice for the perpetual future,” Ben says. “It's a model that lifts up both rural and urban communities and the ecosystems we rely on."
Richard and Ann Hanschu - Owners, Doneen, Forest Grove, Oregon
Ann Hanschu's father first bought land outside Forest Grove, Oregon, in 1956. Ann grew up trailing her father around the forest, learning from him. The Hanschus now have three children, four grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.
Richard says, "We're planting trees that our grandchildren will see the profits from — not even our children. It's long-range thinking."
"A lot of the timber is older,” Ann adds. “We're laddering it with trees of different age groups — some 30-40 years old, some 10-20 years old — so the land can continue to produce a sustainable amount of wood."
Herman Flamenco - Central Cascades Conservation Forester, The Nature Conservancy, Cle Elum, Washington
"We know historically that the stands we're working on were overstocked," says Herman Flamenco, Central Cascades conservation forester for the Nature Conservancy, of the 50,000 acres outside Cle Elum, Washington, the organization manages. Thinning the trees welcomes in light and biodiversity.
Some loggers in the region worry that this low-impact approach to forestry yields less lumber, and less profit, than clear-cutting. One local outfit took on this labor-intensive challenge, selectively harvesting Doug fir trees from steep slopes.
"Western Washington is wetter. In our dry climate, there's less moisture and increased fire risk," Herman says. "As we look at climate change, it's just going to get dryer. We want to make sure we can keep our forests around."
In the 1950s, back when people wore fancy hats to the airport, PDX’s main terminal had brown terrazzo floors.
By the 1970s, blue carpet sporting the old Port of Portland logo replaced the terrazzo. The airport was so concerned about keeping the carpet clean that we banned gum-chewing indoors.
In the 1980s, PDX replaced the ski-chalet paneling in the Clocktower Plaza with high ceilings and skylights, but kept the blue carpet.
SRG Partnership, a Portland-based architecture firm, designed the pattern for the now-iconic carpet on the layout of the airport runways.
The Clocktower Plaza, post-1988, with the iconic carpet.
The Clocktower Plaza (before its demolition in 2021-22) with the new carpet.
The flexible interior spaces were designed with the future of travel in mind — and to give you plenty of comfortable spots to recharge before your next flight.
Two permanent installations from acclaimed contemporary artist Jacob Hashimoto hang like clouds above the concourse’s common areas.
Shops and restaurants are clustered together like city blocks, with a pedestrian-friendly scale and lots of room to spread out.
PDX’s swanky new bar, Juliett, honors women in aviation with mid-20th-century style, top-class cocktails, and local wines and beers.
Sky-high windows fill the interior with daylight while maximizing the concourse extension’s energy efficiency.
At the east end of the concourse, a wall of windows opens up this epic view of Mt. Hood, where you’ll definitely want to pose for a photo before takeoff.
The Concourse E extension project is the dedicated home for Southwest Airlines at PDX, with six new gates.
Remember the view of Mt. Hood on Concourse E? It’s coming back, brighter than ever.
Tillamook’s menu includes the best of the classics with fried cheese curds and a signature grilled cheese.
Calliope takes its name from one of Oregon’s native hummingbirds and showcases creative and playful keepsakes.
Grab your favorite book, magazine or newspaper at Your Northwest Travel Mart.
Concourse B's 38-foot-high ceilings and 6,900 square feet of windows don't just let light in. They let you watch the airport in action. "I think this airport gave us a chance to celebrate the romance of flight," says Gene Sandoval of ZGF, the architecture firm that designed the new concourse.
ZGF Architects was inspired to bring the Pacific Northwest’s natural world indoors. You can contemplate the plants hanging from the ceiling and the Oregon white-oak walls as you relax in B’s comfy new seats. (Bonus: More power adapters!)
RYAN! Feddersen’s art installation, which fills the concourse, is made up of three interconnected pieces. The “Sentinel” landscapes and abstract “Habitat Tiles” are pictured here.
RYAN! is an enrolled member of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. She draws inspiration from the region’s traditions and landscape for these pieces, which include the gently rolling “Cloud Walk” overhead.
Nicole and David Mouton, in partnership with HMSHost, opened an outpost of Portland’s beloved Screen Door Restaurant on Concourse B. Find Screen Door’s legendary fried chicken and waffles here from breakfast until dinnertime.
Sam and Nick Purvis, the brothers behind Good Coffee, source fresh coffee beans and teas from all over the world. Pick up a pastry or a bag of beans, too!
Our new rental car center opened in November 2021.
All rental car brands are now on-site at PDX – no more shuttles to pick up your car.
Perez Westbrooks' colorful digital mural celebrates Northwest flora.
Ben Butler's swirling wood sculpture is made from reclaimed Douglas fir.
The new facility also adds 30 ADA parking spots, more than 30 electric vehicle charging stations, and 2,200 long-term parking spaces to the airport.
Adding more lanes to our new, relocated exit toll plaza helps you leave PDX more quickly.
Every design decision we make is about keeping the heart and soul of PDX intact. You’ll see homages to all the things you love about our city and region in the new airport designs.
You’ll notice subtle nods to the Pacific Northwest landscape throughout the space. Natural light, living trees, and native Oregon foliage may give you the feeling of walking through a park.
The new terminal’s wooden ceiling, made from sustainably grown, local Doug fir, might remind you of daylight filtering through forest canopies.
This will be your new view when entering the spacious ticket lobby at PDX. The nine-acre wood roof is so distinctive you’ll be able to spot it from the air.
The ripples and currents of pristine Northwest rivers inspired the new terminal’s curvy profile.
Expanding the heart of PDX creates more space for our beloved local shops and restaurants — not to mention local humans (and visitors, too).