A new vision for the passenger experience and next-generation operations at the nation’s busiest airport depends on the careful coordination of hundreds of people. In Green Building & Design Magazine, SOM Principal Michael Lingertat and Chicago Department of Aviation Assistant Commissioner Dominic Garascia discuss how carefully coordinated collaboration at O’Hare’s new Concourse D enables decisions that advance efficiency, sustainability, and passenger comfort.

SOM is leading the design with Ross Barney Architects, JGMA, and Arup, alongside more than 30 additional consultants with a wide range of expertise. Aligning these disciplines requires clear communication and a shared understanding of how each decision affects the whole. “It’s something firms like SOM and organizations like the CDA are set up for,” says Lingertat. He describes weekly coordination meetings that bring the team together: “We update everyone, and we hear issues from all the leads of the firms.”

That approach helped the team develop tree-like structural columns that open up the concourse, while improving operations for the baggage handling system. “And using the most efficient layout for the BHS [baggage handling system] not only reduces carbon, foundations, and steel column sizes but also makes the room the exact size it needs to be for tug cart operation and baggage handling below,” Garascia explains. “It was a win-win-win solution.”

The feature reveals the collective decision-making behind a more welcoming, efficient gateway—and the first major component of O’Hare’s broader transformation.