Design & construction
has been a very long story. The airport, which was first dreamed up three decades previously, had been subject to delays throughout the construction process and opened many years behind schedule. To add to the run of bad luck, the opening date coincided with the worst global pandemic in a century, where air travel was almost ground to a halt. Brandenburg Airport – or to give it its full title, Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt (BER) – was built to replace the city’s old Tegel and Schoenefeld Airports, dating from 1946 and 1948 respectively. Tegel and Schoenefeld – which had
Future Airport /
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The scenic route W
hen Berlin’s new Brandenburg Airport opened on 31 October 2020, it was a somewhat muted conclusion to what
sat on different sides of the Berlin Wall – belonged to an era of Cold War politics and the Berlin of the early 1990s was ready for a modern airport. In 1991, a state-owned company (FBB) was founded to oversee its development. A site was selected near Schoenefeld Airport, 11 miles south- east of the city centre, and a tentative opening date was scheduled for 2007. The idea was to create a large commercial airport that would reflect the city’s importance, naming it after a chancellor involved with Germany’s reunification. Unfortunately, the process was plagued with setback after setback. In the end, construction didn’t get under way till 2006, with the opening date postponed to 2011 and then to 2012. Less than a
13
Plagued by political wrangling and construction setbacks, the Berlin Brandenburg Airport Willy Brandt (BER) fi nally opened in October 2020, nine years late and more than €4bn over budget. The three decades between its conception and opening led some to believe the airport would never be completed – only to see it open during the worst global pandemic in a century. Abi Millar speaks to Hans Joachim Paap, associate partner of architecture fi rm gmp, about the long road that followed its initial design.
gmp
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