Patricia Trauth will soon go shopping for boulders.
It’s part of her job as principal landscape architect for Rick Engineering, overseeing the landscaping from the design of sidewalk pavements to what travelers will see as they enter the airport in the $2.3 billion-project to build a new Terminal 1, scheduled for completion in 2028.
Principal Landscape Architect
Rick Engineering
“As a landscape architect, I’m doing a lot more than just the planting,” Trauth said. “Whether it’s the arrivals curb, the paving, the tree grates – all of that is part of our plans. Even the pots, the selection of pots and the type of plants that are in the pot.”
The overall look of Terminal 1 will be what Trauth described as “very much Southwestern.”
“We’re going with a casual type of very naturalistic look to the planting,” Trauth said.
Rather than spacing trees equidistant from each other in a row, many will be clustered together to create “kind of a contemporary look to it.”
More than 1,000 trees will be planted in the 71 acres that the Terminal 1 project covers, some of which will be palm trees that are 15-feet-tall to 20-feet-tall, installed as fully grown trees.
“There’s a lot of natives and drought-tolerant plants of course,” Trauth said. They include Desert Spoon, Red Yucca, Sycamores and Ocotillo.
Jellyfish and Giant Birds
As travelers enter the airport property along a new roadway leading up to the terminal itself, they’ll feel close to taxiing aircraft. A 14-foot-tall security wall separates the roadway from the jets.
“You’re going to have this pretty unique experience of being up close and personal with jets,” Trauth said. “I can’t think of a whole lot of other airports with this type of configuration where you get that close to everything.”
Approaching the new terminal building, travelers will be greeted at the arrivals curb by a whimsical giant purple jellyfish that stands about 15 feet tall, created by artist Matthew Mazzotta. The jellyfish are native to San Diego.
“It’s kind of cool. It looks like it’s kind of drifting toward the roadway,” Trauth said.
The arrivals curb will be “a real hub of activities,” Trauth said. “You’re going to have thousands of people at any given time in this area.”
Changes in the pattern of the pavement are meant to give travelers hints on where to stand, sit or be dropped off.
“Security is probably the biggest issue that you’re dealing with. That and travelers tend to be just a little bit anxious about traveling in general, so you need to really make things very clear as far as wayfinding as far as signage goes, but you also have to really direct the pedestrians, so we do have a lot of fencing and key locations so that we don’t have people jaywalking.”
Toward the west side of the terminal along a drainage corridor will be giant bird figurines created by artist Sarita Schreiber from Walter Hood Studio.
“It almost looks like a bird bath taking a little drink,” Trauth said.
The bird figurines will be 30-feet to 40-feet tall and represent the Pacific Flyway, a bird mirgration corridor that runs through San Diego.
“You have like over 500 species of birds that use this corridor for migration purposes,” Trauth said.
Bike Parking
The boulders that Trauth seeks will be about 5-feet-tall and placed just outside the terminal building. They serve a double purpose of providing a security barrier, protecting the glass exterior of the building, and serving as a pet relief area.
“A lot of people are traveling with their pets these days. Of course, we need to accommodate the pets besides people,” Trauth said. “We have these areas right outside as you come outside the terminal, we have them like mini Zen garden areas.”
The pet areas are covered with permeable rock with a small irrigation system beneath the rock to keep the area clean and free of odors.
New to the airport with Terminal 1 will be an emphasis on bicycles with special bike parking areas with 284 spaces, most of which will be in a separate lot east of a new motor vehicle parking garage across the street from where arriving passengers exit the terminal.
There also will be 252 bike racks, 32 bike lockers and a bicycle repair station.
“When I first started on this, I was told we needed 284 (bike) parking spaces and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s a lot,’ and I kind of thought it was overkill, but the airport is very into sustainability,” Trauth said. “In hindsight, I think it’s a great idea because just look at the popularity of electric bikes now. I mean, they’re all over and I can see some young people showing up in electric bikes with their backpack and hopping on a plane.”
Rick Engineering
Founded: 1955
Headquarters: Mission Valley
President: Kai Ramer
Business: Planning and engineering design firm
Employees: 350+
Website: www.rickengineering.com
Contact: 619-291-0707
Notable: Rick Engineering was founded by Glen Rick, a former San Diego city planning director
