FSDA’s 2025-2026 Lecture Series

The Friends of San Diego Architecture presents inspiring lectures on architecture, design, and the built environment by speakers who stimulate thoughtful, community-centered discussions. After more than 40 years, the conversations continue.

Join Us in Celebrating FSDA’s 40th Anniversary and Our Region’s Legacy as a World Design Capital!
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Prix Versailles
World’s Most Beautiful Airports List 2026

San Diego International Airport Terminal 1 & Roadways, San Diego, California (Photo by Ema Peter for Gensler)

San Diego International Airport Terminal 1
World Selection

Monday, June 15, 2026

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• Announced each year at UNESCO since 2015, the Prix Versailles is a series of architectural competitions that shine a light on the finest contemporary projects worldwide.
• At the intersection between multiple disciplines, the members of the Prix Versailles World Jury are tasked with awarding twenty-four World Titles from among the Selected Sites – in the categories of Airports, Campuses, Passenger Stations, Sports, Museums, Emporiums, Hotels and Restaurants.
• The Official List – which pays tribute to innovation, creativity, reflections of local heritage, ecological efficiency and the values of social interaction and participation, which the United Nations holds in high regard – is in line with the principles of intelligent sustainability, taking the projects’ ecological, social and cultural impacts into consideration.

• Terminal 1 at America’s busiest single runway airport has been completely transformed, along with its roadways, its car parks and its multimodal transport. This gentle revolution rallied the most advanced expertise to create a high-performance civic gateway, deeply attuned to San Diego’s climate, culture and regional identity.
• The architecture, entrusted to Gensler, choreographs the landside-airside sequence into a seamless, intuitive procession from curb to boarding gate. Its most iconic feature, a 244-metres-long curved glass façade developed in collaboration with the artist and architect James Carpenter, disseminates natural daylight while tempering heat and glare. This produces a bright, expansive space that recalls the city’s bayfront promenades and gardens. Thanks to an innovative system that allowed for the removal of structural columns, the ticketing hall feels more open, with a carbon footprint that has shrunk by 30%.
• Lastly, outdoor terraces overlooking the bay, flexible lounges and local concessions enhance the comfort and the profoundly appealing character of the site.

Terminal 1 (Ema Peter)

San Diego’s Terminal 1 is one of two American projects on the list of seven, the other being Pittsburgh International Airport, also designed by Gensler. As noted in Gensler’s press release:

• The announcement comes one year after Gensler’s Harvey Milk Terminal 1 at San Francisco International Airport received the 2025 Prix de Versailles World Title in Aviation, the prize’s top honor. This year, the firm returns to the World Selection with two entries: Pittsburgh International Airport’s new terminal, recognized for its integration of regional identity and operational innovation, and Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport, noted for its transformation of one of the nation’s busiest single-runway airports into a landmark of sustainability and civic design.
• “Both of these projects represent something we care deeply about at Gensler; the idea that a great airport can genuinely transform a city’s relationship with the world,” said Ty Osbaugh, Principal and Global Aviation Leader at Gensler. “Pittsburgh and San Diego are complete reinventions: new buildings that future-proof their airports for a new generation of travelers while giving their communities something to be proud of. That ambition is exactly what the Prix de Versailles recognizes, and we’re honored to be on this list.”

Three airports and/or airport terminals from the 2026 List of seven will also receive a World Title (Prix Versailles, Interior or Exterior), to be awarded at the end of the year.