This series offers a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the $2-billion-plus San Francisco International Airport (SFO) Terminal 3 West Modernization project, a Gensler/TEF joint venture, led by Turner Construction. Featuring the perspectives of TEF team members, each post will highlight personal experiences and insights into the complexity of aviation design, the deep collaboration that drives the project’s success, and the steadfast commitment to enhancing the experience of airport staff and millions of passengers that define SFO’s distinctive brand.
The Power of Stakeholder Engagement
My experience with the SFO Terminal 3 West (T3W) Project has taught me so much about engagement, strategic decision-making, and the nuances of working with diverse stakeholders. Before joining this team my airport design experience was on the tenant retail side. I worked on tenant build-outs for a wine bar and national market in various locations. I focused on optimizing the passenger experience—approach, wayfinding, lighting, and branding—while navigating airport design guidelines. Now on the T3W team I’m on the other side of the table: helping shape these guidelines in collaboration with airport stakeholders.
When the T3W Project restarted in 2023, SFO revisited their programming needs, and through a series of stakeholder meetings asked questions like: What has changed for us since 2020—what have we learned? What can we do better? What seems like unusual timing to rethink a project that had already been drawn to 50% completion is actually a huge benefit of SFO’s Stakeholder Engagement Process (SEP), and the Progressive-Design-Build (PDB) delivery method. The project was able to be phased with separate permit packages, which gave the team time to design the interiors while the development of the structure, envelope and infrastructure coordination could continue.
Guiding the Discussion
Having these conversations with ‘the right people in the room’ is critical to healthy and productive engagement. SFO’s approach considers how information is positioned, and how the narrative is built through sequential executive reviews. Our Programming team modified the process to begin with an outline of key questions well before the presentation content was assembled. The outline became a guide for selecting who could answer the questions and led to a more focused discussion.
Framework for Implementation
Meeting minutes from the SEP became the content for the Basis of Implementation (BOI). Different from a typical “Basis of Design”, this contract document defines owner criteria including project implementation—execution strategies, budget, phasing — with a focus on performance rather than prescription. For example, the BOI would not define program by the quantity of rooms, but may describe a frequency based on measurable drivers like passenger loads and flight demand. Developing the BOI was a collaborative effort to manage and edit content from over 100 contributors together with Core Trade Partners and Design Consultants. Before release it was reviewed in a series of budget control meetings to finalize base scope, and identify what would be considered ‘below-the-line’ and eligible for future projects or funding opportunities. As our first deliverable, it was crucial for demonstrating our team’s cohesion and ability to integrate stakeholder feedback effectively.
Employee Engagement, Listening Session.
Expanding the Vision: SFO Employee Experience
What haven’t we done yet? The ability to ask the kind of exploratory questions that can break open a design project is what allows SFO to continually improve their users’ experience. As part of early visioning workshops, SFO identified elevating the experience of its employees as a new impact opportunity to advance its commitment to “providing an environment that enables a world-class team.” What would happen if we designed for unique employee journey moments, values and typologies, the same way we plan for passengers?
SFO added a new stakeholder meeting to discuss the needs of all employees, including commissioned and contracted workers. After SEP meetings concluded, I transitioned to joining the Employee Experience team. I was eager to advocate and design for less visible members of the airport community, and excited to participate in the first engagement activities. The main effort was to document employees’ needs and values through interviews, listening sessions, all-shift walking tours and surveys to establish employee-focused drivers for ours and future projects. We used an AI plugin to save time organizing information and identifying patterns for analysis. Our summary identified tangible design considerations such as proposing dedicated bicycle storage, artwork in employee-only areas, and common-use amenities. Many of these features exist on the airport campus, but may be underused due to poor visibility or non-specific design. Through continued engagement, our team seeks balance between passenger and employee needs, operational realities, and SFO’s long-term vision.
Rachel with the Programming team outlining SEP meeting schedule.
Working on T3W has challenged me to learn new delivery processes and witness how robust stakeholder engagement yields unexpected opportunities. These lessons continue to shape our work at TEF, and will inform our approach to future aviation, infrastructure, and other logistically-complex programs. Delivering human-centered design requires understanding the role of user experience, wellness, and social connection–and can be accelerated by AI’s capacity to integrate data and research–with the right questions, and the right people in the room.
