Location: Los Angeles, California
Client: Los Angeles World Airports
Since 1953, Johnson Fain has been involved in master planning, facilities design and special studies at the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). Work completed has included:
- Original master plan and terminal design study;
- Design of seven terminal ticketing buildings and satellites;
- Administration building and control tower;
- Master Plan updates;
- Ground access and transportation studies;
- Preliminary design of the proposed west terminal;
- Various studies for surrounding area land use.
In 1995, Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the operator of LAX, began the process to update the LAX Master Plan with the goal of producing plans, policies, and mitigation programs that would strike an appropriate balance between the airport’s growth and its environmental impacts. Johnson Fain acted as the urban design consultant for this master plan update.
The goals of the master plan were to: satisfy regional demands for global air transport by adding new facilities as well as optimizing existing facilities; ensure the safety of all airport users; maximize efficiency of operations; provide major direct and indirect economic benefits to the city and region; improve environmental sensitivity and responsibility; maximize compatibility between LAX and the surrounding neighborhoods; improve ground access to and around LAX; and achieve a balance between increased LAX operations and environmental, social, land use, ground access, economic and air commerce impacts.
Johnson Fain completed numerous studies of expansion potential of throughput capacity in the runways, terminal buildings, gates, and cargo facilities. These studies, together with careful analysis and exploration of alternative operating procedures, guided the master plan team to the final set of alternatives, maximizing the practical capacity of the entire airport to meet future demands.
As part of the LAX Master Plan update, excess property north of the runways was master planned as the Westchester Southside Plan. The development program for the 250 acre site consists of 2.5 million square feet of development of office, retail, restaurants and hotel uses as well as research and development, light industrial and recreational uses. The plan includes an office/hotel complex for a new LAWA Headquarters and provides relocation opportunities for businesses displaced by LAWA’s acquisition program for the LAX Master Plan.