Issues critical to the airport design - Issues created by the choice of building systems

Critical Technical Issues:

1. Passenger movement was a major focus for the project. Extensive research was conducted to determine how much time it took passengers to travel from ticketing to their gates, how far they walked, how much time was spent at newsstands and food stands, and what times of day created the most passenger traffic. Eero had teams study all aspects of passenger movement at several airports throughout the United States in an attempt to determine what did and did not work.
   
   Another aspect of "passenger movement" is how the passengers get to and from the airport. A great deal of time was spent planning the design of the road system that would provide access to the Washington D.C. area.
   
   
2. Protecting passengers from the weather while they load and unload their luggage was considered very important. Saarinen did not want to tack on large overhangs that were not visually integrated with the building.
   
   
3. The airport needed to be designed to allow future expansion.
   
   
4. By attempting to create a large uninterrupted space for the terminal, span became a critical issue.