Charleston panel OKs dome design for $150 million airport makeover

A dome will sit atop Charleston International Airport as part of the $150 million makeover set to start later this year.

A Charleston County Aviation Authority committee voted unanimously Tuesday to place a dome of about 37 feet wide over the atrium instead of the covered-over square in the airport lobby’s ceiling.

The dome will allow natural light to penetrate into the lobby, where greeters will meet incoming passengers at either a statue, fountain or gazebo on the unsecure side of the lobby.

A glass wall just beyond the dome will separate passengers who have advanced through security from those waiting to meet arriving visitors.

Aviation Authority Chairman Chip Limehouse and other board members did not like the original airport layout when it was proposed in March by Fentress Architects of Denver, the firm selected to design the changes for the 27-year-old terminal.

They asked the firm to tweak the renderings and return with revisions. The panel liked what they saw Tuesday and recommended the changes be presented to the full board on April 19.

The changes also include six new gates, a new baggage carousel, new car rental pavilion, consolidating security checkpoints and moving administrative offices.

Read more in Wednesday’s editions of The Post and Courier.

Reach Warren L. Wise at 937-5524 or on Twitter.