McFarland Architects owner Connie McFarland shared the conceptual design for Stillwater Regional Airport’s new terminal with Stillwater City Council members this week.
Her company was chosen in 2015 to design the terminal after Oklahoma State University pledged $2 million to bring commercial air service to Stillwater.
She began her presentation explaining the project’s history. A temporary terminal — which would be used to build the new one — was put in place immediately following the 2015 announcement. A building for holdings and a building for TSA will be added.
“We met frequently to try to make sure we had our arms around what was happening in the airline industry, as well as what might be happening at Stillwater so we could make sure and have everything sized correctly,” McFarland said. “Then in 2021, November, we were excited to hear that the bipartisan infrastructure legislation had passed.”
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law authorized up to $108 billion to support federal public transportation programs, according to the Department of Transportation. The FAA then awarded roughly $1 million in funding to Stillwater Regional Airport.
From there, the team visited Manhattan Regional Airport in Kansas and Paine Field Airport in Everett, Washington, to better understand a smaller terminal layout for commercial air travel and mocked it for the Stillwater airport. McFarland said the No. 1 priority was making the the terminal a good size for the Stillwater community and a size that will last until 2050.
“We got the understanding of the flow,” McFarland said. “This particularly design allows you to move quickly through, but we’re letting so much light in. Everybody’s going to enjoy the opportunity to walk through the building.”
COVID-19 delayed much of McFarland’s work, so the city of Stillwater had the Federal Aviation Administration review the multiyear contract to ensure it still was valid, Deputy City Manager Melissa Reames told the Stillwater News Press.
“It was a contract that had some age on it, and we wanted to make sure that FAA was still in agreement that it was a viable contract,” Reames said.
After explaining the terminal’s interior, McFarland unveiled the theme, “Red Dirt.”
“It was actually Rep. (Trish) Ranson’s (idea),” McFarland said. “That helped us make decisions from there until the time we moved in. We are trying to represent the earth, the red earth, the indigenous earth that is here, but we also wanted to talk about the inside, maybe some red dirt music playing.”https://www.enidnews.com/news/design-for-stillwater-regional-airport-terminal-released/article_810fe58c-2259-11ee-b47f-db0b16845196.html