The modern airport terminal: new approaches to airport architecture

294 Pages·2005·17.73 MB·English

by  Brian Edwards

The Modern
Airport Terminal
Second Edition

Brian Edwards
The Modern Airport Terminal
Second edition
New approaches to
airport architecture
This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005.
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First published 1997
Second edition published 2005
by Spon Press
Spon Press is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Spon Press
270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016
© 1997, 2005 Brian Edwards
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 0-203-64687-8(cid:13)(cid:10) Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-67336-0(cid:13)(cid:10) (Adobe eReader Format)
ISBN 0415248124 (Print Edition)
Contents
Colour illustrations appear between pages Rail links to airports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
208 and 209 The life of assets at airports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
Preface to the second edition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix 5 Masterplanning airports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Intermediate plans. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Compiling the masterplan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Part One: Airport design Airport layout. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
1 The airport industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Runway layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
Ownership of airports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Physical elements of the masterplan. . . . . . . . . . . . 53
How airports generate income. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 The importance of geometry. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Growth in airport demand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Site choice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
What is an airport?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Energy and resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
How airports grow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Environmental problems at airports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
Accommodating growth at airports. . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 A physical strategy for sustainable development. . . 61
The air transport industry: future trends. . . . . . . . . . 12 Reducing environmental impacts:
Economic impact of airports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 a case study of the original design of Heathrow’s
Limits to airport growth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Terminal 5. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Flexibility and the sense of the whole. . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Extent of the masterplan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
Planning for growth. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Air travel and sustainable development. . . . . . . . . . 18
The capacity of airports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 Part Two: Terminal design
The airport interchange. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 6 The terminal as part of the airport
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 system. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Aircraft types and passenger terminal design . . . . . 66
2 The airport as a unique twentieth-century Energy consumption, payload and the
building type. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 effect upon terminal design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
The role of meaning, function and form in Relationship between the mission of BAA and
defining the architecture of terminals. . . . . . . . . . . . 30 terminal design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
The maturing of airports as a building type . . . . . . . 33 Redressing the balance between passenger
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 and airport needs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
3 Relationship between airports, terminals
and aircraft design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 7 Procurement and management
Structure of the air transport system. . . . . . . . . . . . 37 of terminals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Design standards and briefing: the example
of BAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
4 Layout, growth and access to airports . . . . . . . 39 Managing terminals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
Airport as communication node . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Manipulation of space and time in the
Forecasting airport growth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 terminal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
Airport types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 Terminals in the developing world . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Gaining access to airports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
v
Contents
8 Flexibility and permanence in 13 Passenger types, space standards
airport design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 and territories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Flexibility and terminal design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84 Principal terminal territories. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
How terminals expand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Passenger types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
How terminals adapt. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90 Types of terminal user other than passengers . . . . 146
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Passenger space standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Terminal facilities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
9 The terminal as a movement system. . . . . . . . . 96 Commercial versus facilities management. . . . . . . 148
Passenger movement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96 Types of shop and their location . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Other sources of commercial revenue. . . . . . . . . . 151
Principles of passenger flow at large
Strategy for the selection of construction materials 151
complex airports. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
The choice of finishes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Assisted passenger flow. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
The check-in hall. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Passenger-loading bridges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
The departure lounge . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Identity and check-in design. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
10 Baggage handling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
First class, business class and VIP passengers. . . 157
The baggage-handling system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Provision for disabled passengers. . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
Security controls and baggage handling . . . . . . . . 113
Way-finding through terminals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Baggage reclaim. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
Signage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
11 Terminal design concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
14 Technical standards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Changing typologies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Fire safety and airport design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
Alternative terminal design layouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Lighting. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
Changes in level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
Heating. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
Choosing between single-level and
Safety and security . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
multilevel terminals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Increased security after 11th September 2001 . . . 172
Standard plans, irregular sections. . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Part Three: Case studies
12 Conflict between function and meaning in 15 Major international airport terminals. . . . . . . . 176
the design of terminals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Kansai Airport, Osaka, Japan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Design characteristics of passenger Denver Airport. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
terminals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130 Kuala Lumpur Airport, Malaysia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
The four key functions of the terminal . . . . . . . . . . 131 Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris, France . . . . . . . . 183
Key qualities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136 Terminal 2, Hall F, Charles de Gaulle Airport, Paris. 185
Functional elements of the terminal building . . . . . 137 Chek Lap Kok Airport, Hong Kong . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
The approach of Meinhard von Gerkan to Copenhagen Airport, Denmark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
terminal design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 Gardermoen Airport, Oslo. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 Terminal 2, Helsinki Airport, Finland. . . . . . . . . . . . 191
vi
Contents
Airport design: Fifth International Biennale 18 Other airport structures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
of Architecture, Venice 1991. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192 Transportation Centre at the
Terminal 5, Heathrow, London: initial design . . . . . 194 International Airport at Inchon, Seoul,
Revised design for Terminal 5: Heathrow. . . . . . . . 198 South Korea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
Bangkok International Airport, Suvarnabhumi, Airside Centre, Zurich Airport . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 240
Thailand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201 Air traffic control towers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
Beijing Airport, China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202 Control Tower, Arlanda Airport, Stockholm . . . . . . 243
Barajas Airport, Madrid, Spain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203 Munich Airport Centre, Germany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
San Francisco Airport: International Terminal. . . . . 205 Reference. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Refurbishment and extension of Eero Saarinen’s
design of Dulles International Airport, Washington. 206 Part Four: The airport of the future
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207 19 Characteristics of twenty-first-century
airports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248
16 National airport terminals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Land-use diversity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Stansted Airport, UK. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209 Intermodal transport integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 250
Stuttgart Airport, Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217 Environmental sensitivity. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 252
Hamburg Airport, Germany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218 Sustainable development and the airport:
Cologne/Bonn Airport, Germany. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 220 the example of BAA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Seville Airport, Spain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222 Green thinking at Stansted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Palma Airport, Majorca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223 Green thinking at the International Airport at
Sondica Airport, Bilbao, Spain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224 Inchon, Seoul, South Korea. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
King Abdul Aziz International Airport, Jeddah, References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 258
Saudi Arabia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227
The Haj Terminal at King Abdul Aziz Airport, 20 The terminal of the future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Jeddah, Suadi Arabia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 227 The airport as a new type of city. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 260
Shenzhen Airport, China. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228 The search for place in terminal design. . . . . . . . . 262
Jakarta Airport, Indonesia. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229 Culture and meaning through design. . . . . . . . . . . 264
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Reconciling technology with ecology. . . . . . . . . . . 266
Terminals and tectonic expression. . . . . . . . . . . . . 266
17 Regional airport terminals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231 References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271
Southampton Airport, UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231
Two Australian airports: Brisbane and Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 272
Rockhampton. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 274
Guadeloupe Airport. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235 Illustration acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 236 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276
vii
Acknowledgements
My chief debt is to the many architects in the UK and Three people went out of their way to guide me towards
abroad who have furnished me with details of airport the future direction of airport design: Emma Boulby at BAA
terminals either built or at the design stage. They are too International, Graham Jordan at BAA, and Christopher Blow
many to list in full, but I wish to single out Foster and at Scott Brownrigg and Turner.
Partners, Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners, Richard Rogers Further thanks for their assistance in pointing me towards
Partnership, Renzo Piano Building Workshop, Terry Farrell new case studies and in honing my arguments go to the Centre
and Partners, Ove Arup and Partners, Scott Brownrigg and for Aviation Research at the University of Lund, Sweden,
Turner, Murphy/Jahn, RMJM, Parr Partnership, Calatrava especially to Mats Edstrom, Ulf Hansson and Jenny Hallstrom.
Valls, Manser Associates, Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and Mention should also be made of the contribution made by
HOK. Mats Beckman of the Swedish Civil Aviation Authority whose
In addition I am greatly indebted to BAA for the assistance perspectives as an architect of over 30 years in the field of
provided by the staff at Gatwick, Heathrow, Stansted, Glasgow airport terminals provided me with valuable insights.
and Edinburgh. Special thanks also go to Rosie Hall for typing various
Airport authorities worldwide have assisted in various new sections and for ensuring that the material sent to the
ways, and I wish to single out in particular the City of Chicago publisher had at least a semblance of order. Thanks also go to
Department of Aviation, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport the Swedish architecture journal Arkitektur for permission
Authority, Airport CCI Marseilles, and Kansai International to reproduce in abridged form my article ‘Future directions for
Airport. airport architecture’.

viii
Preface to the second edition
Since the first edition of this book appeared, many significant and expansion of use have made existing facilities increasingly
airport developments have taken place around the world. inadequate. There is now congestion in the air, exhaustion in
Major new airports have been constructed and new policies runway capacity, and over-crowding in gate lounges and
have been adopted to improve the lot of passengers, to help airport terminals. The task for engineers and designers is not
protect the environment and to better connect airports with so much the construction of new airports (although this is a
other transport facilities, notably the railway infrastructure. At significant challenge) but the upgrading of existing facilities.
any one time it is estimated that half a million people are in Lowering of fares has meant greater access and a concomitant
the air and another million are waiting in airport terminals. Air rise in expectation for other services at the airport. Shopping,
travel is now so common, even more so than when the earlier leisure and conference facilities are now demanded, and some
edition was written. Business travel by air is increasing, most are provided on a scale which threatens the identity or legibility
Europeans take two overseas holidays a year (one to the sun of the airport terminal itself.
and another perhaps as a city break) and air commuting for In parallel, there has been a tightening of some controls.
work has dramatically increased as roads and railways have Economic de-regulation has been matched by a strengthening
become more congested. In the ten-year period up to 2000 of environmental legislation. New standards are expected
BAA saw a 55 per cent increase in the use of British airports for sound abatement of surrounding residential areas, for air
and a 40 per cent growth in the number of flights.1 Such an quality in terminal buildings and outside, for greater recycling
increase is above the average growth of the UK economy and of waste and improved energy efficiency. BAA has gone
above the rise in general living standards. This suggests that further than most and has produced a strategy for attaining
air travel is not only popular but part of the mass culture of our sustainable development. This airport authority now sets envi-
society. By 2030 it is expected that the volume of air travel in ronmental targets for itself and the operators which use its
Europe will triple. facilities. These are significant changes and are discussed in

Air travel, once the exclusive pursuit of the leisured classes, greater detail in the book.
is now available to nearly all people throughout the world. Another change has been the tightening of border and
Whether in Africa or the USA, travel by plane is the preferred security controls. Airports are now major gateways to con-
mode of transport for most people for distances over 600km. tinents and to countries. Economic migrants and refugees
The questions which need to be asked are:2 arrive at airports and are assessed initially within terminal
buildings. The customs, passport, health and security checks
• Will these passengers find their way round the terminal? are required to be ever more stringent especially since the
• Will their journey be safe and relaxing? tragic events of 11th September 2001. Somehow the terminal
• Will it be an enjoyable experience? building has to provide smooth passenger movement but to
identify and filter out those who are flouting international or
The answer to these questions is found to a great extent in national law. Since so many people gather at airports, the
the arena of airport design. It is the layout and configuration terminal buildings themselves have become targets for terrorist
of the airport and its terminal buildings which hold the key to attack. Again, this area, where it affects design, has also been
the quality of the journey. Well-designed airports offer the expanded.
passenger an experience which supports and enhances the Changes made to the earlier edition include the expansion
journey, a poorly designed airport does the opposite. Since of case studies. The revisions are intended to better guide
the first edition, many new terminals and even whole new those who commission, design or simply use airport buildings.
airports have been constructed which we can use as examples But through these additions it is possible to draw some impor-
of good practice. From these it is possible to reach certain tant fresh conclusions. First, that the airport is a new type of
conclusions. First, that as the air travel industry has become city, breaking the mould of existing urban areas. Airports start
progressively de-regulated, the corresponding lowering of fares as runways, become a collection of terminals, hangars and
ix