LAX Terminal 9 – Planning, Programming & Concept Development

Project Overview

Terminal 9 is a proposed next-generation international terminal at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), envisioned as a 12-gate widebody facility that expands the airport’s long-term capacity while supporting evolving passenger experience and digital transformation goals.

The project was developed as part of Los Angeles World Airports’ broader modernization strategy, requiring a comprehensive Project Definition Book (PDB) to guide future design-build delivery. The effort brought together architecture, operations, technology, security, and commercial planning into a unified vision for a new flagship terminal.

Project Facts

  • Client: Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA)

  • Location: Los Angeles, California

  • Program: New international terminal (12 widebody gates)

  • Scope: Planning, programming, concept design, Project Definition Book

  • Role: Lead Project Manager

The Challenge

Terminal 9 required aligning a highly ambitious vision within strict physical, regulatory, and organizational constraints:

  • Designing within the limits of an existing Environmental Impact Report (EIR)

  • Defining a next-generation terminal aligned with new executive leadership priorities

  • Integrating emerging goals around digital transformation, passenger experience, and operational efficiency

  • Coordinating across a wide range of stakeholders including operations, technology, commercial, security, and executive leadership

  • Translating evolving and sometimes ambiguous requirements into a clear, actionable project definition

The challenge was not just to design a terminal — but to define what the terminal should be.

My Role

I led the planning, programming, and stakeholder alignment process, serving as the central coordinator across all disciplines and client groups.

My role focused on:

  • Orchestrating transdisciplinary coordination across architecture, engineering, operations, and technology

  • Leading stakeholder workshops and executive engagement sessions

  • Translating strategic goals into functional requirements, planning criteria, and design principles

  • Structuring and producing the final Project Definition Book (PDB) as the foundation for future delivery

I operated at the intersection of strategy, design, and implementation, ensuring that the project vision could be translated into a viable delivery framework.

Key Contributions

  • Led stakeholder-driven definition of terminal vision
    Facilitated workshops with executive leadership and key stakeholder groups to align on priorities, trade-offs, and desired outcomes.

  • Integrated digital transformation into terminal planning
    Worked directly with LAWA’s digital transformation leadership to embed technology-driven strategies into passenger processing, operations, and experience design.

  • Developed unified planning and design framework
    Translated diverse stakeholder inputs into a coherent set of planning criteria, operational principles, and design guidelines.

  • Produced best-in-class Project Definition Book (PDB)
    Delivered a comprehensive and highly regarded PDB that has been recognized internally as a benchmark for future airport development projects.

  • Bridged strategy and implementation
    Ensured that high-level ambitions were grounded in realistic planning assumptions, enabling a clear path forward for design-build delivery.

Outcome

The Terminal 9 PDB established a clear, aligned, and actionable vision for one of LAX’s most important future developments, enabling:

  • Alignment across executive leadership and operational stakeholders

  • Integration of digital and experience-driven strategies into early planning

  • A strong foundation for future procurement and design-build execution

The project demonstrated how complex airport programs can be successfully defined through structured stakeholder engagement, integrated planning, and disciplined translation of strategy into design criteria.