FOSTER VS FARRELL
It’s proposed the airport would sit on reclaimed land fromthe Thames Estuary.
FOSTER’S
THAMES HUB Foster’s proposal for a huge airport in the Thames Estuary involves a complete re-imagining of the UK’s transport, energy and communication infrastructure. It is a vision of the kind of integration in transport and utilities that has not been considered since the age of canals and railways. Indeed, whilst outlining the project, Foster himself called for us to remember Britain’s Victorian traditions of entrepreneurialism and industrial daring. Vigorously denying
accusations that the project merely represents ‘pie-in-the- sky’ musings, Foster claims that building the floating airport in the Estuary would be the most powerful single statement we could make about the ambition of Britain. And if anyone doubts Foster’s ability to convert these entirely self-funded proposals into reality, they would do well to remember that Foster already has quite a reputation when it comes to ambitious airport design. His firm’s Beijing Airport was briefly the world’s largest, while Hong Kong International
Airport is built on reclaimed land. It’s also worth noting that Foster + Partners designed Stansted Airport back in the 80s. It’s even harder to dismiss the
Thames Hub as architectural megalomania when the proposal is not just the work of Foster + Partners, but Halcrow Group and Volterra Consulting have also played a fundamental role in developing the plans. Infrastructure specialists
Halcrow’s Group Board Director, David Kerr says: “Great
challenges require bold solutions, which iswhy I believe our Thames Hub vision is critical to society and to the country’s economic prosperity. Ifwe don’t sustain and invest in infrastructure, then it’s at our peril. If the UK is to remain globally competitive, these proposals need to be seriously considered.” Built on reclaimed land on the
Isle ofGrain, the ThamesHub envisioned by Fosterwould be the world’s largest airport, operating
New rail lines would be placed sensi- tively in landscaped cuttings in the tradition of the 18th century ha-ha.
24 hours a day and serviced by a huge slab of newtransport infrastructure thatwould include the UK’s busiest train station,with 300,00 people passing through each day.With four runways the airportwould be capable of handling 150million passengers a year – twice the number of Heathrow- andwould be powered by 1,000 submerged generators. Foster claims that not only
would the Hub put in place the transport connections the country needs in order to
24 | Architects Choice |
ArchitectNews.co.uk
Images: Fotser + Partners
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