Raleigh-Durham International Airport, Terminal 2

Opening Date: January 2011

Fentress Architects—designers of the white peaks of Denver’s airport and the bold curves of South Korea’s Incheon—also masterminded the rolling roof of the new T2. “We wanted a warm, welcoming place that exuded southern hospitality and reflected the Piedmont region’s rich history of arts, crafts, and agriculture,” says Fentress’s Tom Theobald. The firm used long-span wood trusses (the first of their kind in any airport), a nod to the region’s heritage of furniture-makers and craftsmen; artist Ed Carpenter’s work Triplet is suspended from the ceiling. Lest the scientists in the nearby Research Triangle feel left out, Fentress chose a carpet pattern of abstract DNA sequences.

Kudos For: Three ticketing islands that reduce congestion, getting you through the bag-check process more quickly (in place of traditional ticket counters).

Who Flies Here: Air Canada, American, American Eagle, Delta, US Airways.