It is the layout and configuration of the airport and its terminal buildings that hold the key to the quality of travel. In many ways, the history of the airport is the history of the twentieth century itself.
Introduction
Too often infrastructure engineering drives the future of the airport at the expense of a civilized environment. Therefore, the airport of the future will become part of the web of transport infrastructure that connects cities and continents.
Airport design
These influence the layout, engineering and infrastructure of airports, the design of terminal buildings and the specification of the aircraft themselves. Runways, taxi areas, security zones, passenger piers and terminal buildings thus all comply with relatively standardized operational parameters.
The airport industry
The history of the airport is one of crisis management rather than systematic analysis of growth and expansion of provision. The airport is the only unique construction type of the second half of the twentieth century.
The airport as a unique twentieth-century
Like the golf course – its landscape equivalent in terms of modern origins – the airport has no direct parallels in function, scale or form. With over 63 million passengers using Heathrow each year (and 80 million predicted by 2013), the airport is a major cosmopolitan hub.
Different philosophies apply regarding the nature of airports in different parts of the world. Riyadh Airport in Saudi Arabia is typical of the rather Olympic ideal behind many airports in the Gulf states.
Relationship between airports, terminals and
The sudden influx of movements – the result of larger aircraft – is also putting pressure on immigration services and the road network at the airport. The structure of the air transport system indirectly influences the structure of the aviation sector.
Layout, growth and access to airports
The integration of all these systems (and of course pedestrian movements) determines the effectiveness of the airport as a communication hub. Airports, whether international or regional in nature, must develop the 'total business' and this 'consists of aviation, retail, land ownership and integrated transport options'.4 An example is the new Sheffield airport in South Yorkshire (opened in 1997 ). , which forms the center of an extended business park developed in collaboration with the state-funded Sheffield Development Corporation.5 The business park (masterplanned by Ove Arup and Partners) also consists of offices, industrial and distribution units and is linked to a golf course. course, hotel and conference center and the national railway system.6 Here, the new airport constitutes a focal point for development, and in the approximately million passengers transported per year, justifies the expansion of retail facilities in the terminal.
Masterplanning airports
The role of the master plan is to inform everyone, to seek consensus on the form. Central to the idea of spatial clarity is geometry – a simple yet harmonious pattern of repeating linear and curved patterns in isolation or in juxtaposition. Where an airport is well served by train, it is easier to build sub-interchanges of development along its corridor (eg a development axis created along the new railway line serving Hong Kong Airport).
The visually dominant terminal has a swaying, oscillating roof, which is lower at the outer edges giving – superficially at least – the appearance of land undulations.
Terminal design
Aircraft types and passenger terminal design The four main scales of air transport – intercontinental, continental, regional and commuter – are each served by their own type and category of aircraft. While there are overlaps between the four main categories of aircraft, the airport designer knows that if each scale can be accommodated, the aircraft between capacity ranges will fit comfortably in the system. As a general rule, trips above 3000 km are considered intercontinental, between 3000 and 1500 km as continental, below 1500 km as regional and below 300 km as commuting.
While the intercontinental and continental market is filled by jet aircraft, the lower end of the regional scale and the commuter market is increasingly served by turboprops.
The terminal as part of the airport system
Longer runways mean a redesign of the airport itself; larger loads mean changes in the layout and passenger handling methods used at the terminal. Many recent developments at British airports can be traced back to the influence of the mission statement. However, passengers should not be exposed to the complexity: their airport experience should be one of simplicity and serenity.
The dialogue of the passenger with the concourses allows the airport architect to participate in the lifting of tired spirits, and to correct the balance between passenger and airport needs.
Procurement and
In other countries such as France and Japan, and often in Manipulation of space and time in the terminal. Here, the commercial exploitation of the passenger, who may be isolated for long periods at the airport, is less obvious. Although national television may be playing in the background (as in many African airports), there is little commercial manipulation.
There is a major discrepancy between the perception of airports in the West and those in emerging countries.
Flexibility and
The design of the terminal must be able to meet the demands of tenants (such as airlines and franchisees), but not by compromising the key architectural elements of space, structure, procession and light. The designer of the terminal must meet all their needs, both present and expected. But it is also clear that the terminals have a hierarchy of change, with - generally - the slow parts (site or structure) dominating those, such as finishes, which are renewed more frequently.
The hierarchy of routes through the terminal and the size of the rooms must match.
The terminal as a movement system
When harnessing light, the designer must be aware of the path of the sun. Upon arrival, international and domestic passengers must be separated at the terminal as a movement system. Passenger ramps (or jetties as they are sometimes called) provide elevated access directly from the terminal building to the aircraft.
Baggage handling is one of the most complex and, in terms of passenger perception, most critical factors in the success of a terminal.
Baggage handling
The passenger load factor (passenger flows resulting from the number, size and frequency of aircraft) determines the required baggage handling capacity. Ensure that the baggage handling system is compatible with the characteristics of the aircraft movement (type of passenger, size of aircraft, frequency of flights). Because the life of baggage handling systems (and customs regulations) is usually much less baggage handling.
However, with unit terminals or dedicated satellites, greater airline control over the baggage handling system occurs.
Terminal design concepts
These concerned the organization of the terminal in plan and cross-section and in relation to the three key elements – public space, private offices and the control tower. It is clear - especially in the fourth layout - that the design of the terminal with its elevated concepts of terminal design. Space and facilities for the general public should be subordinated to passenger space and passenger facilities.7 The interaction between passenger flow, terminal space and structure is important.
The space standards for airline operators are laid down by international bodies (eg the Civil Aviation Authority), whether in the terminal building, on the apron or the runway, and for retailers by their own global templates.
Conflict between function and meaning in the
Design features of passenger terminals Airport terminals should be outstanding, satisfying and memorable buildings, benefiting all users or stakeholders:1. As a functional and building planning exercise, terminals are an organizational, logistical, resource and architectural challenge.
The architecture of the terminal plays an important role in defining the organization of the movement. The geometry exists as a primary order that dictates the construction of the terminal and the illumination pattern. The second theme is the spatial coordination of the design of the airport and its hinterland as a whole.
This results in airport infrastructure and building design that share a logic.
Passenger types, space standards and territories
Daylight must be present in the core areas of the terminals as a matter of course. Light levels should vary according to the functional status of each part of the terminal. Elevators present particular problems—the physical enclosure induces panic attacks in some—and high overhanging balconies tend to destabilize others.
Third, the terminal's signage features and the design or location of the signs must share a common philosophy.
Technical standards
Because smoke and heat rise in the event of a fire, it is possible to change the ceiling profile to draw toxic chemicals out of the building. Again, referring to Stansted, the system uses 400 watt lamps clustered at each structural tree that shine upwards so that the light from the roof is reflected off the skylight.6 The result is that both natural light through the roof and artificial light is immediately concentrated above the structural tree, giving them visual emphasis within the terminal. Light therefore draws attention to the structural concept, which – if uniformly applied – helps passengers to understand the logic.
The shape of the room is an important factor in the degree of penetration of the blown air and the established patterns of air movement.
Case studies
Piano's design was developed by Ove Arup and Partners, and the approach to structure gives the terminal and the associated buildings a powerful order. Of all recent airport buildings, Kansai is the closest to one where the architecture of space and light, and the design of structure and construction details, seem to push the limits of the tectonic experience. The sense of structure evident in the huge curved beams and bracing columns is not a hollow gesture, but is designed to bring clarity and order to the terminal.
Piano's design rejects neutral space and minimal expression: at Kansai, the approach to design is one of animating the key routes through the terminal with.
Major international airport terminals
Part of the Kansai's clarity stems from its handling of the airport's cross-section. The different characters of the gorge and the lounge - the former quasi-public, the latter private and reserved for travelers - are reflected in the character of the rooms and in their detailed treatment. The sophistication of the terminal extends to the smaller parts (some were not designed by the Renzo Piano Building Workshop, but by local practice).
This contributes to the economics of the terminal and, to a lesser extent, to its future flexibility.
