ABOUT SILHOUETTE

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Silhouette was founded in Chicago in 2005. Our roots are deep in the city, the majority of the team are native Chicagoans several generations over, and the rest adoptive. This year we celebrate 20 years of being rooted in one of the most beautiful and inspirational cities in the world.

Founded in Chicago in 2005 by partners Scott Costello and Tara Carmichael, Silhouette was conceived as an integrated architectural and design firm, leveraging technology and a streamlined approach to deliver seamless project execution. The firm’s expertise spans architectural design, interior design, branding, concept development, graphics, rendering generation, strategic planning, and construction administration. Silhouette holds architectural licenses in 35 states and has NCIDQ Registered professionals on its team. With sustainability increasingly vital in airport environments, the firm has embraced leading sustainable design practices to meet client and regulatory demands.

For 20 years, Silhouette Design Architecture has been a pioneer in creating immersive concepts and brands that reflect a true sense of place—concepts that are visually striking, operationally efficient, scalable, and achievable. With a reputation for innovation and excellence, Silhouette has become a leader in airport dining and hospitality design, crafting hundreds of distinctive full-service restaurants, quick-service concepts, lounges, and retail spaces. In the past two years alone, 14 of these projects have been shortlisted for AXN Awards.

Silhouette has earned a strong reputation for successful RFP design and submittals in both domestic and international airports. Notably, the firm designed 15 winning concepts for the New Terminal at Kansas City International Airport, which opened in 2023. At Chicago O’Hare International Airport Silhouette has designed award-winning spaces for ChiBoys, Six Points Market, Metropolis Coffee, and Blvd & Branch that opened in 2024. Previously, Silhouette has designed spaces at ORD for Edwin Pearl Jewelers, Fresh Market, Jamba Juice, Smoothie King, and Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory, as well as administration spaces at the airport for Etihad. 

 

As the firm celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2025, with over 700 locations designed in 68 domestic and international airports, Silhouette Design Architecture proudly collaborates with leading brands and concessionaires and remains dedicated to pushing the design envelope, creating winning concepts for clients, and shaping exceptional, one-of-a-kind experiences for patrons and travelers alike. 

PRINCIPALS

  • Tara’s professional experience has been driven by the principle that relationships define the success of an enterprise. A background in restaurant and retail management and operations, combined with a Masters in Interior Architecture, provide a foundation and additional level of understanding of space design and implementation. Tara has cultivated strong professional relationships, which has facilitated the discussion between clients, brands and airport authorities, and more recently local brands, to navigate the highly complex airport arena. Tara has a strong portfolio of RFP work, and leads the team in these pursuits. She has been involved in a revamp of Wolfgang Puck Airport concept program (4 new prototypes), and providing continuing brand design services. Currently she has focused her attention and resources on working with the Delaware North team on 12 locations at Boston Logan Airport.

  • Scott Costello, AIA, Silhouette’s Director of Architecture holds architectural licenses in twenty-seven states, and holds a NCARB Certificate that allows him to obtain licenses in other jurisdictions. Scott has worked on commercial, residential, retail and food service projects with a focus on Airport Concessions for over twenty-five years. Scott brings an expertise of construction experience that carries from design, architecture and engineering, to the finished product. This allows him to cultivate long-standing relationships with Airport authorities and Management/Landlords across the nation, and continually provide effective results. Recently completed projects include concurrent multiple locations.