1. Airport Concept (Gensler)
London
Zaha Hadid is not the only architect working on a
replacement for Heathrow. This alternate concept by mega-firm Gensler
radically re-imagines what an airport could be, by designing it to
float in the river. This design's sci-fi appearance is paired with equally
ambitious technical claims. In this vision runways would be modular, floating structures that could be
easily switched out for upkeep - or even replaced with spacecraft landing pads
in the future. The floating structures would also generate power using marine
turbines and provide a reef-like home for sea life. The design is bold, and
slightly unbelievable, but does help recapture some of air travel's lost
glamor. However, in order for it to be built it will need to beat a star-studded list
of competitors and challenge a few laws of physics.
Lisbon, Portugal
HOK, a firm renowned for their work at NASA's Johnson Space
Center and the the Dalí Museum,
won an international competition for the opportunity to help 43
million passengers a year visit Portugal.
Details about the design are scant - the $4.5 billion project was officially
put on hold in 2010 due to the international financial crisis. When it's
given the clearance to take off, the structure will have four runways arrayed
around a 5.2 million-square-foot, cross-shaped structure. While an airport that can serve over 40 million people with twice as many
runways as Heathrow might seem like a bit of overkill in a country of barely 10
million people, smaller cities like Lisbon
use these architectural opportunities to showcase their design capabilities as
well as their local culture.
3. Denver
International Airport
Denver, Colorado
Famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava provided the
initial design for key components of the new airport, but when the funding was
slashed from a first-class $650 million to a coach $500 million he withdrew
from the project rather than trying to shoehorn his vision into a diminished
budget.
Calatrava was paid handsomely for the conceptual work, but Gensler (the
firm behind the aquatic airport) has also been involved in the project design
since its inception an will keep it on schedule for a slated for arrival in
2015.
4. Kuwait
International Airport
Farwaniyah,
Kuwait
Looking less like a building and more like a spacecraft,
this terminal features three wings, each three-quarters of a mile long, that
meet under an 80-foot-high central canopy. Despite its extraterrestrial
appearance, Foster + Partners designed the building to take advantage of the
earthly benefits of the site. The building is flooded with sunlight through
glass windows that have been designed to filter in light while reflecting heat,
and the roof features large expanses of solar panels to harvest the power of the
desert sun. When finalized in 2016, the $3.2 billion terminal will be able to
accommodate over 50 million visitors annually and will be the first LEED
Gold-accredited passenger terminal in the world.
5. Pulkovo
Airport
St. Petersburg,
Russia
The Pulkovo Airport will be the first structure seen by the 12
million annual visitors arriving in St.
Petersburg when it opens in 2015. Grimshaw Architects,
known for their aggressively styled renovations of English train
stations, used this fact as their inspiration. Their design prepares
visitors for the unique visual motifs they'll find in the Russian city and
environment, and avoids the dull elements typically chosen by airport
architects.
The design of the 559,723-square-foot building
is largely focused on the roof, which is flat on the exterior to
evenly distribute the weight of the heavy snow that falls during long Russian
winters. Internally, the structure was vaulted to help distribute the weight
while also creating angular spaces reminiscent of Soviet stars with gilded
surfaces that reference the gold roofs of the city's Tsarist architecture.
6. SFO Federal Aviation Administration (FAA)
Airport Traffic Control Tower
San Francisco
The federal budget sequester that takes place on March 1
will likely force a number of air traffic controllers to lose their jobs or be
furloughed, but if they can hang on until 2015, workers in San Francisco will
have a new office that will make even the best-funded startups jealous.
This new 220-foot-tall, $102 million airport traffic control tower will house
the controllers in a 650-square-foot crow's nest filled with natural light and
modern design details, while support staff, equipment, and security operations
will be located in the structure's 44,000-square-foot base.
While most air traffic control towers employ a charmless "Brutalist"
style, Fentress Architects who also designed additions for the airports in
Seattle and Los Angeles, developed a twisting design
that would fit nicely into the city's skyline. It's not just a pretty facade,
though; it's also engineered to withstand a 8.0-magnitude earthquake.
Staying true to its Bay Area heritage, the structure will feature solar
panels, be constructed with eco-friendly materials, and is targeting
a LEED Gold certification and is expected to be fully functional in 2015.
7. Incheon
International Airport
Incheon,
South Korea
The managers of the Incheon International
Airport held a design
competition in 2011 with a creative brief requiring a single terminal that
could accomodate 72 gates inside a 7-million-square-foot structure. It also had
to be future-proof from a technology perspective, incorporate green building
techniques, and be flexible enough to be reconfigured as the market evolved - a
challenging request, but one architecture firm Corgan was willing to take in
on.
The project has a 10-year timeline, so we will be into the roaring 2020s before
the first jet engine departs. In the interim, renderings of the speculative
project are all that are available. While it may never be built, Corgan brought
some new ideas to the project, eschewing typical aviation-inspired forms and
instead developed a look that suggested a general sense of dynamism
while respecting the cultural preference for balance.
8. Rock Terminal, Wellington
International Airport
Wellington,
New Zealand
One does not simply walk out of New Zealand. Those who want to
escape must first pass through the new departures terminal of Wellington International
Airport. While it was
completed in 2010, the airport's unique style, from architecture firms Studio
of Pacific Architecture in association with Warren and Mahoney, begged to be
included.
Affectionately know as "The Rock," this new building can send 1,000
people on their way every hour, equating a respectable 6 million passengers a
year. Five years in the making, its design is intended to both a sculpture
as well as a transit building; its steel-beam and copper roof design is heavily
influenced by the surrounding environment, especially the craggy rock formations
that form the coast of the remote island - a deliberate contrast to the more
aerodynamic look of most airports.
Despite its stoney exterior, the inside of the terminal is paneled in hardwood
and styled like a hip, mid-century lounge with strategically placed windows
that offer views of the airport and otherworldly landscape.
Source : http://www.planet-cyber.com
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