The New Terminal One at JFK transforms travel through immersive art, design, and storytelling. Quentin Brathwaite, Deputy Project Director, Capital Program Delivery, The New Terminal One at JFK, tells International Airport Review how this is creating a distinctly New York experience that merges culture with infrastructure.
A dynamic overhead experience designed by Arup and Pentagram in the Departures Hall will show New York stories.
image Credit: The New Terminal One at JFK/Arup
When travellers step into The New Terminal One at John F. Kennedy International Airport, they will enter a space that speaks the language of New York. The scale and rhythm of the terminal have been shaped to express the city’s character, its movement, creativity, and extraordinary mix of voices.
The New Terminal One is the largest terminal in JFK’s history, a key component anchoring a $19 billion redevelopment led by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. It will open in phases beginning in 2026 and, when complete, will be an all-international terminal serving up to 23 million passengers each year. Privately funded by a leading group of financial sponsors Ferrovial, JLC Infrastructure, Ullico, and Carlyle, the New Terminal One is the largest public-private partnership in U.S. history.
From the outset, the Port Authority’s vision has been clear: world-class airports must offer not only operational excellence but also a sense of place. The cultural programme at JFK’s New Terminal One reflects the Port Authority’s commitment to reimagining the entire airport experience across our region, transforming our airports into world-class gateways that embody the very best of New York.
As construction continues toward the 2026 opening, the New Terminal One’s cultural programme sets a precedent for airports everywhere. It shows that creativity and engineering can work in tandem to elevate the journey itself. When travellers pass through the New Terminal One, they will encounter a vision of New York that is confident, inclusive, and unmistakably alive.
Designing culture as infrastructure
Instead of treating public art, branding and digital media as independent programmes, the New Terminal One had a vision of conceiving them as one continuous cultural experience. This led to convening a multidisciplinary team of leading creative professionals, who collaborated relentlessly to bring together these typically disparate elements into a seamless experience.
The New Terminal One engaged the professional services of Arup, working alongside Pentagram, Culture Corps, Gentilhomme, Karlssonwilker, WeShouldDoItAll, and a cohort of renowned artists and studios, to orchestrate a collaboration where art, design, and technology evolved together, producing a terminal where culture is embedded in its structure, not layered on top. The cultural programme was conceived to provide guests with a distinct New York experience, anchoring JFK in its surroundings and providing nods to the most quintessential elements of the city and state.
Public art as a new kind of landmark
The New Terminal One’s art programme establishes the terminal as both a transportation hub and cultural destination. Seven internationally acclaimed artists; Yinka Shonibare, Kelly Akashi, Tomás Saraceno, Ilana Savdie, Julie Curtiss, Firelei Báez and Woody De Othello were commissioned to create monumental, site-specific works that reflect the diversity and energy of New York.
Together, their sculptures, mosaics and murals create a visual rhythm across the terminal, transforming travellers’ movements into experiences. The programme’s unifying theme, ‘We Travel Under One Sky’, celebrates the connections between people and places, echoing the diversity and spirit of New York itself.
Roster of internationally recognised artists, overseen by Culture Corps (Lead Curator) for The New Terminal One at JFK (clockwise from top left): Yinka Shonibare CBE RA, Kelly Akashi, Tomás Saraceno, Ilana Savdie, Woody De Othello, Firelei Báez, Julie Curtiss. Image credits clockwise from top left: Tom Jamieson, Brad Torchia, Dario Lagana, Austin Sandhaus, Jonah Reenders, Christopher Garcia Valle, White Cube (Fabrice Gousset). Image credit: The New Terminal One at JFK.
A brand that moves with the city
The New Terminal One’s brand identity translates the city’s vitality into visual form. The design system extends across every scale, from monumental signage to mosaic floor inlays, creating a continuous sense of motion. Throughout the New Terminal One, there will be subtle, surprising messages woven into the terminal’s fabric in overlooked places and unusual contexts, designed by Karlssonwilker, a design studio based in Queens, New York. For example, phrases and poetic snippets speaking in an authentic New York voice will be displayed on electrical outlets, furniture upholstery and more.
The Departures Hall will feature the world’s largest split-flap display, part of the ‘Leaving New York’ experience, a kinetic farewell that celebrates travel as transformation. The baggage claim floor incorporates playful symbols of the city, while a vast lenticular graphic, The City in Bloom, captures New York’s perpetual reinvention.
By blending design and storytelling, branding becomes a living system, one that communicates both identity and emotion. It is as legible to the first-time visitor as it is familiar to the lifelong New Yorker.
The world’s largest split-flap display will flicker through scenes of New York as passengers move through security. Image credit: The New Terminal One at JFK/Arup
Film and digital experience as emotional architecture
If the art anchors the terminal visually, the digital and cinematic layers give it a pulse. Immersive digital environments will extend the story of departure and arrival at the New Terminal One. The monumental ‘Leaving New York’ installation in the Departures Hall weaves together images of movement through time, by land, sea and air, while a soundscape of the city welcomes returning passengers. This installation includes two colossal split-flap displays displaying iconic scenes of the city and state as travellers begin their journey.
Along the arrival corridor, moving scenes of New York’s natural landscapes provide a tranquil bridge between travel and homecoming. These pieces of media architecture will display panoramic views of New York City, along with a soundscape of New York welcoming travellers back. Pentagram worked with local design studio WeShouldDoItAll to create an immersive experience, blending sophisticated visual recreations of iconic New York scenes with the architectural elements. In the Customs Hall, digital banners will also read “Welcome To New York” in the native language and alphabet of international flights landing in real time.
The ‘Love Letters to New York’ series brings the voices of local filmmakers into the hold rooms, offering travellers a parting glimpse of the city through authentic, place-based storytelling.
Developed with support from the Jamaica Centre for Arts and Learning, the films feature creators from Queens and nearby communities. Every short film captures an intimate story—turning the airport into both a stage and a screen for the city’s creative talent.
Each digital layer reinforces the same principle that shapes the physical design: technology serves emotion. Every moment is choreographed to remind travellers of where they are and what this place represents.
A global gateway, a cultural statement
JFK’s New Terminal One represents a new model for airport design, one where culture, infrastructure and innovation operate as a single system. The project’s scale is remarkable, but its significance lies in how it reframes what an airport can express.
Public art, brand identity and digital media have been unified to create a coherent experience that celebrates the city’s diversity and ambition. The result is a terminal that feels both local and global, rooted in New York yet designed for the world.
C: The New Terminal One at JFK
Quentin M. Brathwaite, AIA, AICP, CCM serves as a Deputy Project Director – Capital Program Delivery at The New Terminal One at JFK, the developer and operator of a new all-international terminal in New York. In this role, he leads and is responsible for the delivery of the terminal’s culture programme – an ambitious initiative that integrates art, branding, film and multimedia to create a distinctive and welcoming next-generation airport terminal experience.
With more than 30 years of experience in planning, architecture and construction management, Quentin has helped shape some of the most complex transportation and infrastructure projects in the New York and New Jersey region. Driven by a belief that great infrastructure should move both people and culture, he brings creativity, collaboration and purpose to every project he leads.
Quentin’s approach combines technical expertise with a deep commitment to community engagement, equity and transparency, ensuring that large-scale public projects reflect and serve the diverse communities they touch.
Before joining the New Terminal One, Quentin managed planning, design and logistics for major public–private infrastructure programmes, coordinating across ownership groups, contractors and federal agencies. His leadership has been instrumental in aligning design innovation with operational performance, stakeholder objectives and policy priorities.
