Money Makers
Editor's Note: This profile appears in the 2020-21 Book of Lists. This year's publication includes newsmakers from each of the 12 industries represented in it.
Autumn C. Giusti, Contributing Writer//September 22, 2020//
Book of Lists Newsmaker – Construction & Design: Daniel Taylor
Editor's Note: This profile appears in the 2020-21 Book of Lists. This year's publication includes newsmakers from each of the 12 industries represented in it.
Autumn C. Giusti, Contributing Writer//September 22, 2020//
An airport is a traveler’s first and last impression of the city they visit. That notion was a guiding principle for Daniel Taylor while designing the new $1.3 billion terminal at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport. Inside and out, the terminal emulates everything that is New Orleans.
“It is more than a symbol of the city. It must be the city,” said Taylor, lead architect and project director for the Crescent City Aviation Team, a joint venture between the firms Atkins Global and Leo A Daly.
After eight years of planning, conceptualizing and construction, the nearly 1-million-square-foot terminal debuted in November 2019, replacing the original, mid-century-era facility. The project is the city’s largest public works project since the construction of the Louisiana Superdome.
In creating a sense of place for the new terminal, Taylor tapped into his fascination with maps. The structure’s curves mimic the city’s geography and the way the streets shift to accommodate the Mississippi River. Elements such as skylights are intentionally not in perfect symmetry, giving a nod to the city’s geographical quirkiness.
“The central atrium is askew – the skylight, the atrium volume, the stairs and elevators are all slightly misaligned but harmonious,” Taylor said. “By creating a space like this, the passenger feels that unique New Orleans sensibility as they pass through the terminal. Like our streets, it is a subtle experience.”
Taylor has gained a reputation for bringing that sense of place into everything he designs. He spent 15 years designing digital media facilities including animation studios, TV stations and newsrooms for 20th Century Fox. He was also a principal planner in the federally funded Livable Claiborne Communities Study, which defined much of the city’s infrastructure recovery after Hurricane Katrina.
Taylor first got involved with the airport while working for another firm, acting as lead architect on a refresh of the original terminal before the Super Bowl in 2013.
When airport officials learned Taylor was not part of the architecture team brought on to design the new terminal, they fought to get him on board. Atkins eventually offered Taylor the position of senior project manager and lead architect.
Taylor was able to help fulfill the airport’s vision to create an open, light-filled space with lots of windows and to accommodate the terminal’s unconventional shape, which is meant to resemble a shore bird.
One of the hallmarks of the airport’s design is its subtlety — from glass that recreates the lighting of a foggy New Orleans morning, to the rich finishes that allude to the richness of the city’s food, music and architecture. The elements are understated references to the culture and its eccentricities, as opposed to literal, graphic references such as wrought-iron French Quarter balconies, Taylor said.
“It is not rational, and neither is New Orleans,” he said. “New Orleans is a rich, subtle city, full of mystery and allure, and the airport design took its cue purposely from that inherent quality.”
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