AIRPORTS 101
the environmental impact as much as possible during the transition period to greener aircraft. Architects Declare now has more than 1,000 UK signatories who have promised, among other commitments, to: ‘Evaluate all new projects against the aspiration to contribute positively to mitigating climate breakdown, and encourage our clients to adopt this approach.’ It is a promise that pressure group Architects Climate Action Network (ACAN) feels is incompatible with airport design, and prompted it to send out the
challenge in an open letter to Foster + Partners: ‘Our network strongly believes that UK architecture practices should not be working to expand aviation in the midst of this climate emergency. Aviation is an extremely carbon- intensive mode of transport. Expanding aviation capacity cannot be reconciled with meaningful action to achieve the rapid global de-carbonisation that is urgently required.’ Architecture writer Christine Murray,
editor of Te Developer, pointed out on Twitter at the time of the row, that aviation is only
responsible for a tiny percentage of global carbon emissions in comparison with general construction, and that singling practices out for criticism for choosing to put their skills to use in airports was counterproductive. ‘Instead, for example, could you write angry letters to all the practices specifying coal-fired bricks, concrete and stainless steel in, like, every single house extension and new house in the whole country?’ she tweeted. ‘Instead, you’ve got architects sitting back congratulating themselves for not designing airports they were never going to be asked to design.’
Developed to ease
congestion at Beijing’s existing airport, Beijing Daxing will be a major transport hub for the region with the world’s fastest growing demand for international travel
Left and above right
Beijing Daxing International Airport
Completed in 2019, this brand new airport, 46km south of Beijing city centre was designed to cope with 72 million passengers a year by 2025
Architects/Joint Design Team Zaha Hadid Architects and ADP Ingeniérie
Client Beijing New Airport Construction Headquarters
Design Zaha Hadid, Patrik Schumache
Lighting Gala Lighting Design Studio
Left and below right Western Sydney
International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport
Zaha Hadid Architects and Cox Architecture won the international design
competition to design a new greenfield airport for Sydney’s new western Parkland City region, aiming to stimulate trade. Designed to serve 10 million annual passengers when it
completes in 2026, by 2060 it is intended to be the largest airport in Australia.
Master Architect Zaha Hadid Architects and Cox Architecture
Client Western Sydney Airport
Despite the criticism from some of their peers, many larger practices that have been designing airports for years have continued to do so, creating stunning and remarkably energy-efficient and eco-friendly buildings. Zaha Hadid’s natural light-filled Daxing Airport, for example, has photovoltaic power generation throughout, centralised heating supported by a ground-source heat pump system, rainwater collection and a water management system via new wetlands, lakes and streams. Te company also won a competition to design the new Western Sydney (Nancy-Bird Walton) airport, after putting forward a design that not only drew on traditional Australian themes from the veranda to the bushland, but integrated the extensive use of daylight, natural ventilation and water recycling to create a modular, energy- efficient design.
In Singapore, Safdie Architects designed Jewel Changi Airport with an incredible indoor waterfall, the tallest in the world, that makes use of rainwater to provide natural cooling. Less dramatically, Gensler’s design for the new Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport has set refuelling lines underground, negating the need for refuelling trucks and has rearranged runways to minimise taxiing. Te terminal, which is under construction, is intended to reach LEED Gold standard and will use carbon-free electricity.
Foster + Partners’ Red Sea International Airport in Saudi Arabia, designed with roof shells in the shape of sand dunes to blend in with the desert landscape, will be 100% powered on renewable energy and is intended to achieve the coveted LEED Platinum sustainability rating. It has five departure lounge pods set around a central drop off – a configuration designed so that each pod can be operated independently while others are powered-down to conserve energy. Grimshaw, a practice that has been designing airports for more than 30 years, is also aiming for LEED Platinum with the Shenzhen Airport East Integrated Transport Hub, which features flowing architectural forms inspired by mangrove trees. Natural daylight and economic use of materials contribute to a low carbon building – while complete integration with high speed rail and other public transport links minimises car use. In addition, Grimshaw is also working on the new Delhi Noida International Airport, with architecture firms Nordic Office of
ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS
THIS IMAGE AND BELOW: HUFTON+CROW
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