Terminal One at Los Angeles International Airport was completed in 1984 before the Olympic Games, with Sklarek in a leading project role (date approximate).
In 1984, represented here as January 1, 1984 for chronological organization, Terminal One at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) was completed in time for the Los Angeles Olympic Games, with Norma Merrick Sklarek playing a key leadership role in the project.[3][11] Sources agree that the building was finished before the mid-1984 Olympics but do not specify the exact completion day.
Terminal One formed part of LAX’s modernization ahead of the Olympics, providing gates, passenger facilities, and circulation systems for the influx of international visitors. Sklarek, serving as project or production architect within major Los Angeles firms, oversaw complex coordination of structural, mechanical, and architectural components—a role demanding deep technical knowledge and management skill.[3][11]
The project was historically significant on several levels. It contributed to LAX’s transformation into a global aviation hub and showcased the capacity of large American firms to deliver fast-track, high-complexity infrastructure. Importantly, it also demonstrated that a Black woman architect could successfully lead technical delivery on a marquee public project in a major U.S. city at a time when few women, and fewer still women of color, were entrusted with such responsibilities.
Terminal One’s completion reinforced Sklarek’s professional reputation and helped cement her status as a sought-after production architect for large-scale work. The visibility of the building—used daily by thousands of passengers—made her contributions part of the lived urban experience in Los Angeles, even if her name was not widely known to the general public. For historians of women in architecture, the project illustrates how women of color have shaped major civic infrastructures often without the public credit accorded to designers.