New Directions in Airport Design

เว็บไซท์ สกภ. ขอนำเสนอบทความของ Marcus Binney จากหนัีงสือ Airport Builders ซึ่งได้นำเสนอประเด็นที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการพัฒนาสนามบินไ้ว้อย่างน่าสนใจยิ่ง

Airports have become key national construction projects around the globe. Every major provincial city, every region or state, and many small island, want a spacious, impressive terminal that will give arriving passengers a memorable and welcoming first impression of their country’s modernity and sophistication. Correspondingly, most airport architects interpret their brief as an exercise in seek high – tech design. A few though the number is increasing, seek to create buildings with a distinct sense of national colour or character.

What sets the airports of the 1990s apart from their predecessors is their prodigious size and cost. The proposed Chicago South Suburban Airport is projected to cost $4,900 million, Denver International cost$3.2 billion and the new Austin – Bergstrom Airport is projected billion and the new Austin – Bergstrom Airport in Texas, $615 million. Likewise, Pittsburgh’s new terminal cost $815 million, Detroit’s new terminal is forecast at $786 million, the terminal at Shanghai Pudong is budgeted at $317 million, Terminal 2F at Charles de Gaulle, Paris, at 2.5 billion FF, and Oslo’s Gardermoen Airport at 20 billion Kroner.

These are very large buildings, designed to impress, and to cope with fast expansion. While simple international rivalry is a spur in itself, still more important has strings of central and local government, allowing them to operate as businesses and raise finance on the basis of expanding revenues.

Airport are now lucrative organizations, raising funds not just through landing fees, but by renting space to a whole range of airside and landside operators, from aircraft maintenance providers and fuel suppliers to freight handlers, and shops, bars, cafes and restaurants, carhire companies, banks and bureaux de change.

Driving the great surge of airport building is the desire to provide for ever increasing numbers of air travellers. Following the example of Charles de Gaulle Airport at Roissy, more and more and more airports are building anew: Oslo’s Gardermoen on the site of a former military airfield; Austin – Bergstrom in Texas on a former US Airforce base; and the three new island airports in Asia- Kansai, Chek Lap Kok and Seoul’s Inchon now under construction, as well as the major new facility at Kuala Lumpur, scheduled to open in 2004

The optimum new airport extends to hundreds of acres with two, three, four or even more runways to allow simultaneous take off and landing. At Denver and Kuala Lumpur, for example, provision is made for four parallel runways,

New airports and major new terminals are colossal undertakings in terms of town and country planning and civil engineering as well as architecture. In the United States of America, particularly, there is an increase in the emergence of large multi - disciplinary practices specializing in airport projects.

HNTB, which has evolved from a civil engineering practice founded in Kansas City in 1914, offers master planning, architectural and engineering services, site selection, feasibility and regulatory studies construction management for airside, terminal and landside facilities for all types of airport – large hubs and non – hubs, to use the jargon – as well as specialist services such as noise management, which has become an important issue since the passage of the US Airport Safety and Noise Abatement Act of 1979.

Leo A Daly was founded in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1915 and operates as a multi – disciplinary firm providing planning, architecture, engineering (civil, structural, mechanical, and electrical), interior design services and project management with offices around the world, The firm was granted a ten – year contract with the US federal Aviation Administration to design air traffic control towers at more than sixty airports.

Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum ( HOK), established in 1955, provides, inter alia, architectural and engineering services, computer systems, as well as store planners, landscape architects, graphic designers and model builders. HOK claims to have ushered in the jet age with its design for the Lambert Terminal, St Louis, in the fifties, and cites its landmark projects as Dallas – Fort Worth : one of the first major new airports built in the US, and King Khaled Airport in Saudi Arabia, which combines traditional Islamic architecture with contemporary aviation technology’. Since 1984 the firm has completed projects exceeding $7.4 billion of airport construction around the world.

William Nicholas Bodouva + Associates has played a major role in airport design over three decades. Its client list includes Air France, Lufthansa and SAS, in addition to numerous American airlines. In the United Kingdom, Pascall + Watson Architects has built up a large portfolio of airport work since it was first appointed in 1964 to design a flight catering base at London Heathrow, thereafter receiving numerous commissions from the British Airports Authority, including the redesign of Terminal 2, a check – in extension at London Gatwick and hangars at Stansted and Luton.

The new Gandermoen Airport in Oslo is predominantly the work of a consortium of architects and consulting engineers, Aviaphan AS, established in 1989 to provide a specialis group of professionals capable of preparing a highly qualified entry in the design concept competition for the new airport. It consist of six Scandinavian firms that can draw on the services of some 2,000 employees, and cites transport planning, airport logistics, environmental planning and water supply and sewage among its numerous fields of expertise.

Airport built on new sites provide opportunities for master planning on a grand scale, matching in both scope and geometric layout the largest’ ideal’ town planning projects envisaged in earlier centuries. Architects, engineers and rulers have long been fascinated by the concept of the perfectly planned new town with straight roads, grand axes, grid layouts and great symmetrical buildings avenues and boulevards.

Airports provide the opportunity to realize such ambitions on a scale never seen before. An early example of super grand planning is Kansas City International Airport, laid out in 1968- 72 with Kivett and Myers as architects. As originally completed, this consisted of a giant central circle linking three circular, or horseshoe, terminals (four were planned). The whole layout was adapted to the motor car, with gently curving roads and abundant carparking. The principle was that long term car parking would be easily available immediately in front of each airline’s check- in points.

Unfortunately, the concept of “park and fly” was rendered problematic by the threat of terrorism and the need for much greater security. While Kansas City Airport offered admirably short walking distances from car to plane, it also required a vast number of security check points.

Dallas-Fort Worth(1965–73), by TAMS and HOK, is another early example of grand planning with provision for up to six crescent–shaped terminals set three and three along either side of broad central road approach–so broad that the central grass reservation is the size of a foot ball pitch. To the uninitiated, the layout can be confusing with its sudden turn offs and loops to terminals on the almost side of the road net work. From the air, the almost perfectly similar arrangements of runways and taxiways are reminiscent of the discipline of a seventeenth – century formal garden.

The master of grand planning is, appropriately enough, a Frenchman: Paul Andreu, chief architect of Aeroports de Paris. His chef – d’ oeuvre – and life’s work is the new Charles de Gaulli Airport at Roissy, north- east of Paris. The design began with Terminal1, which was conceived as a perfectly circular drum surrounded by seven island satellites linked by walkways beneath the aprons. Andreu then embarked on the much grander project for Terminal 2.

The basis of the concept for the second terminal is the French love of a grand axis–manifested in the Champs Elysees rising to the Arc de Triomphe and now continued to the Grande Arche de La Defense. Andreu develops this theme in two commanding ways. First, by bisecting his main axis with a second axis, for trains rather than car, thus giving equal symbolic importance to the two means of approach : road and rail. The foresight in planning and achieving such perfection is immense, when so many other pressures are brought to bear on airport land over a long period.

Second, Andreu adds an almost Baroque flourish by relinquishing pure straight lines and right angles in favour of designing the terminals in matching pairs to form a succession of ovals. While Louis XIV was required to spend a fortune on levelling the ground at Versailles to create the perfect tabula rasa to accommodate his grand symmetrical layout, Andreu had the advantage of a siti that consisted of flat, open former farmland. Nonetheless, the need to interweave different levels for trains and motor vehicles, as well as separate drop – off points for departures and arrivals, vastly increased the complexity of the overall design, introducing a series of Los Angeles style elevated freeways with fast lanes continuing through on the main axis, and loop roads serving each pair of terminals. In a display of sheer virtuosity, Andreu chose to build the focal point of the layout, a torpedo – shaped hotel, at the point where it would be most challenging to set the foundations – over the tracks of the new station. Significantly, he was also the creative genius behind the mile – long terminal at Kansai International Airport, another project laid out on a grand scale with a powerful axis running through the building like a laser beam (the commission to design the building went to Rinzo Piano).

No less imposing than his designs for Charles de Gaulle are Andreu’s plans for Shanghai – Pudong, another airport laid out on either side of a grand ceremonial approach road. The masterplan provides for four Kansai – style terminals, each with a long departure concourse extending on either side of the main building. Andreu’s plans show planes as neatly lined up as fighter aircraft at a military aerodrome. On either side, taxiways and runways are laid out almost as mirror images – the difference being that they are staggered and thus clearly distinct from the air, each with one end close to the centre of the airport complex. Intriguingly, the plan is a rare example of Andreu designing off – grid, with the main approach road set at an angle until it straightens out into a central ceremonial way on the scale of New Delhi. In the first phase, just one of the scale of New Delhi. In the first phase, just one of the four proposed terminals is being built. Just one of the four proposed terminals is being built. Whether the airport authorities will follow Andreu’s original masterplan as closely as that of Charles de Gaulle remains an open question.

The stupendous growth rates of the Asian “tiger” economies in the late 1980s and early 1990s were the impetus behind a series of highly ambitious plans for new airports, with Chek Lap Kok, opened in July 1998, boasting the largest airport terminal in the world. In the same month, Kuala Lumpur’s ambitious new airport also became operational. This is another example of a spectacular grand layout which, from a bird’s – eye view, is strangely reminiscent of a vast eighteenth – century parterre. Again, the airport was planned with a grand central axial approach accommodating twin terminals on either side and four propeller – shaped island a satellites. In the initial phase of construction, only one terminal and one satellite have been built, but these are on a colossal scale, and in themselves constitute one of the largest airports in the region. Here again, roads are planned in perfect symmetry with inner and outer loops and four runways, three parallel but staggered, and one extended runway set at right angles.

In terms of sheer scale, the most ambitious building proposal of all was for Seoul’s new island airport at Inchon. The original masterplan shows a grid layout equal in size to a large town with office blocks and residential buildings interspersed with office blocks and residential buildings interspersed with ornamental gardens and formally planted woodland. As in a grand Baroque or classical layout there are intersecting avenues, rond points and rectangular basins of water. The main axis was to be extended as a strongly architectural peninsula into the sea. The whole chequer board layout is contained within a vast egg – shaped ring road and continued at the far end by the airport proper with a car – park, followed by a landmark gateway building designed by the Terry Farrell Partnership, and then a crescent – shaped terminal by Fentress Bradburn, with two finger piers.

In the grand plan, the airport layout was to be further extended by a succession of four island terminals linked by an underground shuttle train. It was intended that accommodating a new runway. The final layout was to result of the precise alignment of the runways. With the onset of the Asian recession, the phasing of the master plan is uncertain but the Farrell gateway and the Fintress Bradburn terminal are under construction with a view to opening in time for the World cup in Korea in 2002.

In North America, the most ambitious of the new layouts can be seen at Denver. Again, this is a new site laid out symmetrically along a main axis with a network of elevated roads encircling the terminal. So perfect is the symmetry that, once inside, people are warned to remember where they parked their car . Here the freeway approaches at right angles before turning on its axis to reach the terminal. Beyond the departure halls the axis is continued by the people mover train which runs under the aprons to serve three successive island concourses.

While fast, easy land access is essential to any airport, traveling distances for passengers and personnel are increasing. The need for ever larger sites and the noise generated by increasing numbers of aircraft mean that the optimum site for new airport are now close to city centres. The most famous, Hong Kong’ Kai Tak, with its descent among the tower blocks (breathtaking or hair – raising according to the individual point of view) closed in July 1998. Washington National remains, but new airports are being built on more distant sites where aircraft noise in particular will disturb fewer people.

From London Heathrow a new high – speed fifteen minute link runs four times an hour to London’s Paddington Station, though there is, as yet, no prospect of a direct connection to trains running west on Brunel’s Great Western Line to Bristol, which passes barely two miles to the north of the airport. In Hong Kong, an express line gas been built to serve the new Cheek Lap Kok Airport on the island of Lantau. Fast trains take just twenty – three minutes from downtown, where passengers may also check in their baggage. In Norway, passengers traveling to and from Oslo’s new Gardermoen Airport may take a new nineteen – minute high – speed train, having checked their luggage in at Oslo’s central station. In Japan, the cities of Osaka and Kobe, benefits from a new railway line, approached along a viaduct across the bay. Passenger may use a range of express trains or take the slower but extraordinary midnight - blue rocket-like Rapi : [sic] train which covers the 42.8 kilometer journey at a more stately pace.

As a result of the competitive nature of airlines and railways in the United Kingdom, connection between train and plane are often awkward. The obvious exception is Gatwick, which from its origin in the 1930s stood on the main London to Brighton line, with its own station and direct connections to London’s Victoria Station, and now also to London Bridge, Black friars, King’s Cross and Charring Cross.

At Charles de Gaulle, the TGV now runs through the airport connecting it with north, south and eastern France as well as Germany, Belgium and Holland

In the United States, good airport links have traditionally meant fast access to nearby freeways and interstate highways(for example, Washington Dulles is approached along its own landscaped freeway),but in Europe, and increasingly in Asia where major airports serve densely populated cities, there is equal emphasis on good public transport connections.

The best served airports offer more than a direct fast rail link or metro to the neighbouring city, since they stand astride major intercity rail links; Holland’s Schipol and Zurich’s Kloten Airport are outstanding examples. Schipol has regular main line services connecting with cities all over Holland and beyond. From Kloten it is just ten minutes to the city’s Hauptbahnhof, which boasts rail connections all over Switzerland and Europe. At Geneva, several long distance expresses leave the airport every hour for major European destinations, while Frankfurt’s busy airport is less than fifteen minutes ride to the city’s main station and train services all over Europe.

The alternative to a fast dedicated link is connection to a city’s metro service. Inevitab, this entails longer journey times involving more frequent stops but it is cheaper, often considerably so, offering a wider range of destinations and possible savings in onward travel time and expense. London Heathrow connects to the whole of the large London Underground network, though journey time to central London of forty – five to sixty minutes are slow. Munich offers a metro service beginning through green fields and reaching the city centre in half an hour.

 The new terminals are designed as landmark buildings and are frequently symbolic in shape. The time when the height of terminals had to be low in order to avoid creating a hazard to approaching aircraft is long past eight, or more storeys, high, which makes then monumental structures that cannot be missed on any approach road; that was until the demand for car parking grew to such an extent that some terminals are virtually concealed by the multi – storey car parks in front of them

The usual means of providing for increasing passenger numbers is to add new terminals or existing facilities. Flights are commonly divided between domestic and international terminals; domestic, European and international terminals (as at Barcelona Airport); or, as is common in the United States, individual airlines or groups of airlines build their own terminals. Examples are United Airline’ terminal at O’ Hare International Airport, Chicago; Saarinen’s famous TWA terminal at NewYork’s JFK Airport, and now the combined terminal for Air France, Korean Airline, JAL and Lufthansa.

Some major new airports have set out to counter this trend toward on – site fragmentation by providing a single large terminal for all flights. Munich Airport, which opened in 1992, is a key example. Both departures and arrivals are at ground level making the building almost as long as that at Kansai. The advantage, for passengers who know (or quickly find) the right entrance for their airline, is that walking distances can be significantly reduced from pavement to departure gate. But if they need to use other facilities or are uncertain of their way, this walk can be oppressive.

 Foster’s Chek Lap Kok terminal strikes an impressive balance between spaciousness and distance. The walk from the drop – off point is down a gentle ramp providing the shopping areas are as easy to progress through as to dally in, and when the great long vista opens up to the distant gates ( the ultimate salle des pas perdus ) there are moving walkways as well as a shuttle train to speed passengers on their way.

Chicago’s O’ Hare has long held the record as the busiest airport in the world, though Atlanta runs it a close second. Since O’ Hare cannot expand to meet the needs of the Chicago area, an even more massive South Suburban Airports is planned. In addition, there is the smaller Chicago Midway, closer to the city centre . New York boasts three major airports : JFK and Newark New Jersey run level, with La Guardia not far behind in terms of passenger numbers. In London, British Airways now runs more flights out of Gatwick than Heathrow. Growth is slower at Stansted and London City but Luton Airport is expanding fast thanks to a cheap flight policy. In Paris, the airport authority closed down Le Bourget when Charles de Gaulle Airport opened, and drastically reduced flights to Orly on the south side of Paris, though it was closer to the city and more convenient for many travelers. Now Orly is growing again. Busy Milan has two airport – Lineate and Malpensa – with a new L2,200 billion hub opened in 1998, a reflection of the flourishing commercial life of the city.

Airport managers and governments like the prestige afforded by a monumental airport, and there are obvious advantages, in terms of connections, in all flights departing from one airport. But in an increasingly market – led business, passenger convenience is still more important, and those living on one side of a great conurbation such as Chicago, London, Milan, New York or Paris can find themselves spending much begrudged time getting to an airport on the other side. Dominating airports such as Heathrow can be subject to delays at peak periods, just when many want to make a fast getaway or landing, with planes stacked up in the sky or waiting for a take – off slot.

Location is important. Many business travelers start their journey from home. London Stansted with its connections into Liverpool Street may be convenient for businessmen arriving from the Continent. Whose much less accessible for the populous residential areas south and west of London.

Most new airports have arrivals and departures on separate levels – notable exceptions are London stansted (where arrivals and departures share the same concourse) and Barcelona where both arrivals and departures are at ground level (at stansted the main level is raised, involving a walk up a ramp for those who use the car parking outside).

The dominant pattern around the world is for an upper – level departures hall, approached by an elevated roadway, and a ground level arrivals hall. As most jetliners have doorways 6 meters or more above the ground, departing passengers need have no stairs or escalators to ascend and can walk on the level to the departure gate (or descend), and then approach the plane down the gentle incline of the airbridge. Equally, while arriving passengers may have a short ascent along the airbridge, they will thereafter descent comfortably by degrees via lifts, stairs or escalator to the baggage reclaim and arrivals hall. Recently, a number of airports have introduced double airbridges providing direct links to both departures and arrivals hall. Recently, a number of airports have introduced double airbridges providing direct links to both departures and arrivals levels and ensuring that the only walking involved is downhill – down into the plane and down again on disembarking. Such innovative design is incorporated into the new Terminal 2F at Charles de Gaulle and Chek Lap Kok in Hong Kong.

The disadvantage of placing departure facilities over arrivals is that the arrivals level inevitably has less light, particularly in the deep centre of a building. To combat this problem, architects are introducing deep canyons and generous lightwells in the most recent designs for airports to allow daylight to penetrate arrivals levels, including enclosed’ sterile’ areas(such as immigration)and baggage reclaim halls as well as meeting areas at the front of a terminal. Examples are the Richard Rogers Partnership designs for Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and the new terminal at Madrid. The new international terminal at New York’s JFK by William Nicholas Bodouva + Associates, is also designed to allow natural light to flood down through open balconies.

In the United States, the overwhelming majority of flights are domestic. Where an airport offers no direct international connections, there is often no requirement to separate arriving, departing and transit passengers who can all use the same concourses on a single level, as at the new island satellite terminal in Las Vegas which is purely for domestic flights.

In the past, demands for expansion have often been met by building new terminals for specific purposes the TWA terminal at New York’s JFK, and Terminal 1,2,3 and4 at Heathrow, serving (broadly) British, European, Intercontinental airlines and British Airways long–haul flights. In the Far East, at Osaka’s Kansai and Hong Kong’s Chek Lap Kok, the architects and authorities have tried to reverse this trend by building one vast terminal to accommodate all airlines.

An increase in the number of flights and the size of planes inevitably leads to larger terminals, in some cases achieved by the addition of new piers or satellites with extra gates. The trendsetter here was Atlanta’s Hartsfield, with its underground shuttle train providing fast links to four parallel island concourses, a pattern adopted at Denver and proposed for Heathrow’s Terminal 5. Architects have also experimented with X– plan island satellites, a configuration held to combine the maximum number of aircraft boarding positions with the shortest walding distances. Other airports use finger piers placed in a U, V of E format and large finger piers serve Charles de Gaulle’s new Terminal 2F and are proposed for Seoul’s Incheon Airport. As a result of architect Paul Andreu’s emphasis on limiting walking distances, Charles de Gaulle’s Terminal 2A-D have a mere 50 metres between pavement and plan.

Another format, again minimizing walking distances, is the “bastion” pier, in plan rather like the spur of a seventeenth–century fortification. Such a design is illustrated by the triangular piers at Barcelona’s airport, and pentagonal ones at Jakarta. By grouping planes and passengers in this way it is possible to create a critical mass of potential customers which makes the provision of shops, cafes and bars cost – effective.

With airports figuring as prestigious national projects, whether they serve a capital, major city, or holiday destination, the trend is to made them as large and impressive as possible. Chek Lap Kok opened to a fanfare of publicity announcing it as the largest terminal in the world.

Clearly, architects and airport authorities have to cater both for businessmen and holiday –makers. They must satisfy local people accustomed to arriving for their flights at the last minute and those who wish to spend leisurely time at the airport, or indeed are obliged to do so while waiting for connecting flights. The Hong Kong citizens delighted in last – minute dashes to Kai Tak. Now the new airport is further away but fast trains, or indeed speeding taxis and limousines will help people take advantage of the fact that the departure gates for Cathay Pacific and other locally based airlines are closet to the check – in counters At Pittsburg, special commuter gates close to check – in serve smaller commuter aircraft. In Brussels, there is a special gate for waiting executive jets, a feature reflecting the city’s business and political status.

The essence of air travel is captured by the sensation of bursting, without natural light or views to the outside world, transforms air travel into a submarine claustrophobic experience, reinforced by the cabin of the plane itself. Abundant daylight is exhilarating, even more so as a sense of bright sum or fast moving clouds, creating patches of shadow and sudden brilliance.

In the field of terminal design, the trend is towards openness and daylight in the 1990s. Having noticed that existing terminals had long tended to pile more and more plant on the roof, cluttering the skyline and eliminating any possibility of daylight entering from above, Foster led the way at Stansted with his floor to roof glass, large skylights and a lofty hall without any internal divisions above ground level. Foster & Partners takes transparency a giant step further at Chek Lap Kok Airport, which is surrounded by a continuous 5.5 kilometre wall of glass, providing panoramic views of planes, mountains, sea and ships.

 The latest American terminals are even more advanced in the race to build the all – glass palace which glows luminously at night. Newly completed is William Nicholas Bodouva + Associates international terminal at New York’s JFK, a glass – walled and part glass – roofed version of Saarinen’s famously sculptural TWA Terminal. In San Francisco, SOM is also building a supremely graceful new international terminal with a huge cantilever glass – clad roof. Earlier but no less impressive examples of transparency are the new international terminal and kilometer–long passenger concourse at Barcelona Airport. Here the Taller de Arquitectura combines lofty ceilings with sheer walls of panoramic glass which create a marvellous sense of spaciousness.

Air travel by its very nature may involve long waits and delays, or last – minute rushes. It can therefore be reassuring to look out of the terminal on to the aprons and runways and observe which planes are arriving and leaving and which are on their stands. Planes are prime exhibits at any airport and should always be on view. With this in mind, airport facilities should always exploit the view out over the apron. Viewing platforms appeal equally to people seeing off family and friends or greeting them as to day visitors. Airport restaurants that offer a view over the runway, allow patrons the pleasure of relaxing until their incoming flight lands, enabling them to pay the bill or even order dessert or coffee as the plane taxis towards its stand, without feeling the need to rush. Innsbruck Airport, which has a view across the valley of the Inn towards a majestic wall of snow capped mountains, must surely offer the most splendid of airport settings.

Airports are public buildings where people can constitute an irritatingly slow – moving crowd or a lively free – flowing throng. Airports with adequate space can actually be enlivened by large numbers, often hosting a colourful crowd of many nations.

One way of achieving this meld of numbers and comfort is to allow – indeed encourage – passengers to circulate within a departure hall by placing facilities no several levels. The architect Meinhard von Gerkan has done this to grand effect in his terminals at Stuttgart and Hamburg, where a series of terraces ascends a hill after the manner of the ancient Temple of Palestrina. Versions of Palestrina have entered the canon of Western architecture via numerous practitioners, notably Palladio, who made reconstructions in its image.

Similarly, at Stuttgart and Hamburg airports the far sides of the departure halls are arranged as a series of by twin stairways and escalators as in a grand ceremonial building. The tiered effect is rather like a British wedding cake, with people seated at tables, sometimes under umbrellas(purely decorative),eating at a variety of restaurants and cafes as they might in a piazza. At Stuttgart the lower terrace extends around the side, providing space for those who want to relax away from other people. Both airports have high – level open – air terrace overlooking the runway. Ay Hamburg, tables and chairs are set out by the self – service cafeteria; at Stuttgart the terrace is enhanced by a display of historic aircraft, for which an entry fee is charged.

Renzo Piano introduced a great canyon at Kansai Airport, enabling daylight to penetrate the building deep down. This design concept has been developed further by the Richard Rogers Partnership in its designs for Heathrow’s Terminal 5 and also its competition winning scheme for a new Madrid terminal. Here, the baggage reclaim is placed at the bottom of the canyon allowing it to be lit naturally. Above, the canyon will be crossed by a series of bridges leading from the check – in area to security and passport control.

World travel will lose some of its glamour if major air terminals become indistinguishable. Intriguing therefore are the architects who go against the trend. Most memorable is Rafael Moeo. His San Pablo Airport, Seville, is monumental: its massive beehive dome is an echo of Moorish architecture. Equally striking is Cesar Pelli’s new terminal at Washington National, complete with long perspectives of pointed arches. At Doha International Airport, Fentress Bradburn introduced towers based on traditional Qatari wind towers, while at Oslo’s new Garermoen, the Norwegian government insisted on the use of indigenous wood rather than steel for the roof with the aim of creating a distinctively Norwegian character. At Chattanooga the architects sought to evoke the Classicism of Beaux- Arts railway stations, reflecting the city’s importance as a railway junction.

In their designs for new terminals, architects make frequent visual references to the great railway stations of the nineteenth – century, admiring them not only for their impressive spans and metal and glass construction but as icons of travel. Many designs also make explicit or implicit references to flight, both of birds and planes. Flight is evoked generally by curved and waving roods (often symmetrical to suggest wings.), by lightness of construction and by reference to aircraft building techniques–the struts of biplanes, the lattice work construction of fuselages.

Roofs, therefore, are the key to the architecture of the new generation of air terminals, often seeming to float on walls of glass. One of the most extraordinary examples is the new SOM international terminal at San Francisco, now under construction. Here, the roof is cantilevered out in two directions from the central supports like the wings of a bird.

Santiago Calatrava, who has designed the new terminal under construction in Bilbao, refers to the roof as “the fifth fa?ade” Here it will be all the more prominent as the terminal can be seem from the surrounding hills. Calatrava’s dramatic free- form roof soars upwards. Another metaphor for flight, Terry Farrell’s Transportation Centre for Incheon Airport, Seoul, began as an allegory for a bird – the long – necked crane which in Korea has strong symbolic associations. Cut Fentress, who is designing the adjoining Terminal 1, states that his new roof will symbolically reflect the aerodynamic shapes of planes By contrast, from the air, Foster’s new Chek Lap Kok terminal is strongly suggestive of a model plane, with a long straight fuselage and swept- back tail.

For those with a taste for architecture parlante architecture which proclaims its purpose – Nicholas Gimshaw’s pier 4A at London Heathrow is based on the vocabulary of aircraft design : a rounded “fuselage” jetliner – style oval windows, and even light fittings suggestive of the leading edge of a plane wing. Grimsaw’s wave roof from at Zurich will be one of the biggest and most impressive of all, intended to become as much a symbol of the city as the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Increasingly, terminal roofs oversail glass walls to provide shad, with many extended even further to become canopies over the drop – off point. Fost incorporated this feature in his designs for Stansted and Chek Lap Kok, where the arched roofs curve forward like so many peaked caps. Their sheer scale makes them the dominant feature of the building. It is strange, nonetheless, how a canopy rarely covers more than the pavement or first few feet of roadway-the more so as many airports have more than one drop – off lane.

The risk of being drenched in a sudden downpour while unloading is evident in many airports, particularly as canopies are often set high and offer little protection against slanting or driving rain. One major exception is at Munich Airport, where the drop – off points – positioned on loops off the approach road-are beneath canopies that protection for all passengers wherever a car or coach may be positioned.

Giant roofs, especially those that appear to float on walls of glass, need internal support. Enter the tree form pioneered by Sir Norman Foster at London Stansted and Meinhard von Gerkan at Hamburg. Foster’s tree’s branching out to support huge roof panels have been the inspiration for numerous subsequent terminals. Von Gerkan’s forms, reaching up to support long arching roof trusses, are no less impressive. At Stuttgart, von Gerkan develops the steel tree a stage further: four arms each branch into three and then again into four, like sticks of cow parsley, though the scale is that of a forest tree.

At Chek Lap Kok, Foster supports the roof on columns of almost pencil-thin proportions, while for sheer engineering virtuosity Barcelona’s international terminal makes a powerful impression with just four columns – set far from the glass outside walls supporting a roof measuring 130 by 80 metres.

Norman Foster’s athletic high-tech designs and smart palette of grey’s have been imitated all over the world. He believes that in architecture, as in nature, colour for sighs and other elements that need to attract the eye for functional reasons. Yet air travel would be less interesting if grey became an almost universal livery. For this reason, Munich Airport makes a radiant change, the equivalent of donning an all white suit in the topics. Here is an airport in the world of Richard Meier’s work, or, more directly, one that takes its inspiration from the white-walled Baroque churches which are such a feature of the Bavarian landscape. Tropical white dominates, too, at Paul Adreau’s elegant airport at Pointe -`a – Pitre, Guadaloupe. Moneo’s interiors at San Pablo Airport, Seville, set cool white against deep marine blue. White – tented roofs, echoing snow – capped peaks, give Denver one of the most romantic silhouettes of any airport terminal. And at Doha, in the starkly different desert environment, Fentress Bradburn introduces granite floors inspired by traditional Qatari patterns- white red for the sand, white for buildings, and blue – grey for ;the waters of the Gulf. Where white stone is used in arrivals, red is used in the corresponding position in departures.

Colour can be introduced in a variety of ways. In Frankfurt’s Terminal 2, huge hanging advertising banners enliven an otherwise grey interior. A palette of colours can also be integrated through materials. At Oslo’s Gardermoen there is an abundance of warm natural wood, oak and maple as well as cooler – toned marble. Kisho Kurokawa uses slatted wood at Kuala Lumpur on the underside of his billowing vaults, and at Chek Lap Kok the highly polished marble is so reflective that it appears coated with a film of water by a photographer determined to achieve stunning reflections.

Conscious of the tedium of long waits between flights, an increasing number of airports are commissioning and displaying large works of art – not just the murals or reliefs common in the early day of flying, but a whole rang of specially designed three – dimensional artefacts, sculptures and fittings. Art has been commissioned on grand scale at Denver Airport; not fine art, such as you might find in a museum, but a whole range of innovative works that will intrigue passengers of any age: paper planes, musical chimes and a kinetic light sculpture consisting of 5,280 metal propellers that whiz into motion as the people mover train rushes through the tunnel.

Airports could utilize their own history to a greater effect, exploring the aircraft and airlines that have used their facilities, and the way they have grown and changed. One star attraction along there lines in the Flughafen Model (airport model) next to Terminal 1b at Hamburg. This is air travel’s answer to a large – scale model train layout, or indeed to one of the numerous Legoland models involving moving planes and vehicles. The difference here is that the model planes actually take off and land by night: runways and taxiways are illuminated and all the different parts of the airport are explained in turn – fire service, fuel farm, cargo and maintenance. This exhibit is run by a group of enthusiasts who made the model and keep it up to date.

For all the new terminals featured in this book, elaborate and handsome models are likely to have been made, of tem showing elements that are planned for the future. These constitute an archive with considerable public appeal as well as future historical interest.

For years, airports were largely state or municipal enterprises, underwritten by the public pure and funded by landing fees and the occasional duty – free shop. One of the great exceptions was Brussels, an airport of no architectural grace but one packed with shops and bars selling every variety of chocolate and beer. Then came Pittsburgh, where the British Airports Authority won the contract to manage the terminal so pioneering a radical new approach to airport shopping. Hong Kong has now followed with what is claimed to be the largest congregation of airports shops in the world, bristling with names like Cartier, Gucci, Harrods and Calvin Klein.

In Europe, by far the most elegant airport shopping mall is the Ramblas at Barcelona Airport, designed by the Taller de Arquitectura. One kilometer in length, with moving walkways to speed the journey if desired, the mall is lined with smart freestanding kiosks containing shops and cafes. These clean – lined and stylishly finished kiosks are far more attractive than the usual row of shopfronts set around the perimeter of a departure concourse or shopping area. They have the appeal of kiosks along Barcelona’s original Ramblas or the new kioak along the champs Ely`ees.

It is evident from the success of these shopping malls that airport passengers provide a discerning and ready market, not just for bottles of whisky, cigarettes, perfume expensive watches and cameras, but for local food and wine, local crafts and clothes, and good books. The abolition of duty – free goods is presented as a loss to the air traveller but in many cases duty-free prices are hardly lower than those which the careful buyer can find in local shops. Removing this option may result in the provision of a better choice of goods, admitting a wider range of enterprising shops rather than the high mark – up selection that is typical of duty free. One of the best is the cheese shop at Terminal 1, Charles de Gaulle, which does a thriving trade in unusual but reasonably priced cheese in prime condition.

A colourful example is the new satellite terminal at Las Vegas, which comes with themed shopping gallerias inspired by the city famous Strip and casino shows, by Area 51 and its associations with aliens, and by the desert. Neon lights rival the city’s own illumination.

Scandinavian Service Partner (SSP) developed a new catering for airports at Oslo – Fornebu, with a wider range of small outlets offering both national and international specialities – a mix of in – house and local and international chains. The company believes that the right balance helps airports to convey individuality. On offer were sausages at Frank’s Deli, seafood at Salmon House, coffee at Kaffehuset 1796 and waffles in the Vaffelhuset, as well as Burger King, Pizza Hut and Upper Crust. Such outlets operate with restricted space for food preparation and have minimal staff requirements.

 RINGING
THE WORLD

In spite the proliferation of mobile phones, there is a strong demand for payphones at airport. While they are potentially part of a terminal’s street furniture, people making telephone calls appreciate some space, privacy and quiet. One neat solution is provided at Stuttgart, where generous – sized Perspex globes contain ledges large enough to open a briefcase or to set out papers. The globe shuts out external noise (especially loudspeaker announcements) and simultaneously keeps conversation more private. At Chek Lap Kok, Cathay Pacific has sponsored the introduction of a new generation of touch – screen phones.

The new terminal at Washington National Airport, which opened in July 1997, has two types of telephone: wall – mounted phones and sit-down phones in the holdrooms or departure gate area. The latter are equipped with modem connection for laptop computers, providing passengers with a facility usually found only in airport lounges

Airport lounges have come to be an expected perk of the business traveler, offering drinks, snacks, privacy and extra comforts. They are often the work of interior designers, but all too many are more cramped than the seating areas in the public concourses. They can also be places where people talk in self – conscious, hushed tones and seem far from relaxed. For these reasons, airlines are now turning to create spaces with an individual, character, and placing a new emphasis on spaciousness, light and high – quality materials.

 Nowhere the results more spectacular than in the Cathay Pacific lounges designed by the British architect john Pawson at Chek Lap Kok. Cathay Pacific has taken 2,800 square metres at balcony level, overlooking one of the main arms of the giant public departure concourse. First class passengers can enter discreetly via a secret short cut from the check-in area and emerge beside an indoor canal which runs through the lounge. On one side there is a fully equipped spa where passengers can book a spacious cabana, consisting of a bathroom and private terrace overlooking the water. The relaxed environment makes use of sandstone walls and mahogany benches. Washbasins are solid blocks of lmpala marble, while the 1.8 – metre – long enamel bathtubs are for two.

 The lounge will be operated by Hong Kong’s fabled Peninsula Hotel. Guests who wish to sleep after take-off can enjoy a sumptuous buffet before departure, and perhaps ultimately, a fully fledged restaurant. There is also a well-stocked news stand and a library. John Pawson explains,
I wanted to offer everyone personal living space, with a desk, computer, an armchair and a stool, so two people could study the screen together.

 Pawson’s business-class lounge is designed to be as convivial as the best hotel. A long bar takes spectacular advantage of the floor-to-ceiling glass walls of Sir Norman Foster’s terminal, affording panoramic views of taxiing planes and the hills beyond.

 Everywhere the emphasis is on beautiful materials and finishes – straight – grained Japanese oak, American walnut, real leather and metre – square granite floor paving stones, cut so smoothly that no mortar is needed. In line with Parson’s belief that the ultimate crime is for a light to shine directly in your eye, all light sources are concealed, many built into the furniture.

The chair have been selected to create a gallery of classic twentieth – century furniture design, consisting of one famous chair after another, all in production.

Self – evidently, the major landmark buildings in any airport should be the terminal(s). In recent years the sheer demand for parking close to check-in has led to the crowding of handsomely designed terminals by multi – storey car parks. If carparking is to be conveniently close to departures and arrivals it must be in front, beside or beneath the terminal. The Richard Rogers Partnership has created a tiered car park for the new Terminal 5 at London Heathrow in order to leave a clear view of the tall elevated departure level. At Munich, car parks ranged in front of the very long terminal are sunken. Elsewhere in Germany, notably at Stuttgart and Hamburg, the car parks have been designed as features in themselves, quite distinctive in form, materials and colour from the terminal. Circular ascent ramps are made into striking tower at Stuttgart, while another drum – shaped car park to the perimeter. Since many cars are exhibits in themselves, this is an attractive option. The Farrell Transportation building at Incheon, Seoul, contains four levels of carparking below ground.

Airports are essentially expanses of tarmac, but most incorporate large areas of grass between the runways and taxiways, and some of the most attractive are surrounded by lush vegetation. There are numerous airports in Africa that are enclosed completely by plantations of palm trees or thick forest. At Jakarta Airport in Indonesia, Paul Andreu has led the way not only in planting lush vegetation but by allowing passengers to walk outside along shaded terraces overlooking gardens. Similarly, at Bangkok’s new airport, scheduled for completion in 2004, Murphy/Jahn plans extensive displays of flowering trees and topiary along the approaches, as well as large gardens under a vast oversailing canopy roof. These will be laid out by a local landscape designer and are intended to recall a Thai myth of forest spirits. At Kuala Lumpur Airport, which opened in 1998, the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa determined that the first sight arriving passengers should be confronted with was a rainforest vista. A lush, well – watered grove of trees is therefore placed at the centre of his new arrivals satellite.

One of the complaints about air travel is the way that it eliminates local character, producing a bland internationalism whereby any airport could be in any country. Vegetation, even more than art or heritage, gives an immediate stamp to a place, and usually by its very nature an exotic even romantic one – pine trees in winter can be just as appealing as palms.

As airports become ever busier, they are surrounded by increasing numbers of buildings – car parks, cargo depots, catering facilities, maintenance hangars, fuel farms , hotels, airport and airline offices – and well maintained landscaping and planting can add an immensely calming effect.

One of the best examples of effective landscaping is at Munich’s new airport. Here extensive, immaculately kept lawns along the approach roads create the impression of arriving at a grand hotel rather than at a crowded travel interchange. Regular lines of trees provide shade and car parks are skillfully shielded behind great banks of shrubs and ground cover. At Madrid’s new terminal, where there will be extremes of summer heat and winter cold, the Richard Rogers Partnership intends to plant hardy vegetation which will emphasise the rich – toned local earth.

First impressions are always important. In every airport a lasting impression is created by the speed or slowness of its check – in procedures. Ever larger planes, particularly on intercontinental routes, can cause long queues to build up, blocking the path of other passengers. Terminals with check – in counters on islands or piers can be prone to this. So, equally, can an airport with a single long bank of check – in counters opposite the doors, particularly if the concourse is narrow and tailbacks block other passengers and their trolleys trying to cross the hall. Such problems are most likely to arise with wide – bodied planes carrying a full pay load or when computers break down as passengers are checking in.

An increasing number of airports are seeking to cope with this by utilizing a flexible system of check – in counters. Instead of individual counters being assigned to airlines on a permanent basis, with permanent signs proclaiming their territory, check – in positions are assigned as required, with airline logos flashing up on screens behind or above the check – in counters. This opens up the possibility of increasing the number of check – in positions where a flight is heavily booked and will assist in reducing frustrating queuing times for harassed passengers.

Increasingly, airlines are using self – ticketing and self check – in facilities with the aid of ticket machines. This system is usually aimed at passengers traveling with hand baggage only – passengers with heavier baggage will still need to have it tagged and checked in.

An alternative that is developing in America, for example at Chicago, is the curb – side baggage check –in, where bags are tagged and taken immediately from the passenger, as at a busy city hotel. This reduces the need for passengers to manhandle heavy baggage on and off trolleys.

At Chek Lap Kok, Cathay Pacific has introduced a new counter – free from of check – in for first – class passengers, it consists of a series of island stands with computer screens displaying information. This is akin to open – plan banking or registration at grand hotel, where customers approach a table rather than a counter, where they can be seated and command the full attention of a member of staff.

Baggage – handling systems represent a major element of the cost of any new terminal. A whole floor level beneath arrivals and departures is likely to assigned for this purpose. Being a secure area, it will be unseen by passengers and even unmarked on plans. Airport managers and airlines have strong views on baggage systems: some believe in maximum automation and computerization and are keen to take advantage of the latest innovations, while others mistrust all but the most tried and tested systems and prefer porters and trolleys.

From check – in to aircraft, baggage handling can now be totally automated. Expensive outbound baggage sorting and handling rooms can be eliminated. The system can be reversed for inbound bags, which can be directed automatically to the appropriate baggage – claim carousel or to a specified transfer aircraft. Traditional tugs and carts, nonetheless, continue to be used at many airports because they are less subject to mechanical breakdowns. The disadvantage is that they add to congestion on the airside roads and aprons, and allow human error to lead to lost and misdirected baggage.

By contrast the new automated baggage systems are equipped with electric – eye checking stations so that if a piece of baggage goes missing its progress through the airport (and possible departure on the wrong plane) has been recorded stage by stage and can be checked against the baggage counterfoil given to the passenger at check – in.

Pittsburgh’s $33 million automated baggage system uses lasers, computers and fibre – optics networks to direct baggage from aeroplanes to baggage carousels a mile away. Coded tag are read by 360 – degree laser scanners and sent on conveyor belts along underground tunnels to their destination. Additional scanners along the route verify that the case is on course, and provide an instant record of the last time each piece passed a check–point. This system is claimed as having a near – perfect rating.

It is standard procedure to search or to screen hand luggage at all airports, using X – rays and metal detectors. Now an increasing number of airports are seeking to check all passenger baggage destined for the aircraft hold, rather than just a random sample as has long been standard practice. In November 1996, Manchester Airport become the first airport in the UK to screen all international hold baggage. Ten new CTX 5000 screen units, acting as both `nose and eye` to provide advanced detection power, were installed at a cost of ? 14 million with a cost per passenger bag of 44 pence. Once operational, this was the only fully certified explosives detection system as recommended by the Us Federal Aviation Administration.

X – Ray screens are, in turn dependent on the alertness of their operators. Michael Cantor, a psychologist who specializes in researching how people find things from cereal in the supermarket to golf balls in the rough – has tested security screening staff. Security screener in Europe scored an average 9.5 out of 18, and those at US airports 3.5 point. This compared with a college student rating of 12 out of 18. Cantor’s worrying findings fuelled a debate on whether screening was a minimum – wage job, attracting people with out the necessary cognitive skills.

Some authorities advocate the use of dogs, but they like humans can quickly become bored. Moreover, the dog requires an officer who also needs to be trained (and tested and retrained), and the dog can only work for about twenty minutes before boredom sets in. A bomb – sniffing dog may cost around $ 8,500 to train compared with a $ 1 million X – ray machine and the ability of the machine to detect plastic explosives at speed is disputed.

Major air terminals around the world are high – specification buildings, often substantially constructed of non – combustible materials. Nonetheless, fires can break out despite the most exhaustive fire precaution and fire detection systems. As air terminal are places where the public gathers in large number, this is a subject which has to be kept under constant review.

The dangers are illustrated by the terrible fire at Dusseldorf, which broke out in a flower shop and swept through the arrivals hall of the city’s airport late on the afternoon of 11 April 1996. The story is related graphically by Neil Wallington in Firefighting a Pictorial History (1997). At the time, the hall was packed with 2,500 travellers and staff. Sixteen people lost their lives and over 100 were injured. Thick smoke rising from burning plastic furnishings quickly filled the hall, asphyxiating people trapped in shops and lavatories. Nine of the dead were trapped in lifts.

The fire is believed to have been started by sparks from a workman’s power tool. It took hold in a false ceiling and spread through ventilation and service ducting to affect to remote of the terminal, including halls, with terrifying speed. The airport approach roads were closed, causing huge traffic jams and delaying the assistance of extra fire engines from the city and beyond.

This was a modern building with numerous fire exits but despite repeated public announcements to evacuate the area many people were bewildered and disoriented. Paramedics and doctors provided aid to unconscious victims as they were dragged out into the open by firemen using breathing apparatus. However the search for victims was hampered by the collapse of ceilings and walls which brought down pipework and ducting

A very different fire strategy has been developed for Foster & Partner` new terminal at Chek Lap Kok, where the whole terminal interior is effective one single fire compartment, unbroken by internal subdivision. Fire prevention and containment strategy is based on avoiding combustible materials in construction. Moreover, where there is a source of fire risk, for example a shop or kitchen, the establishment is equipped with sprinklers and roller shutters. As soon as the fire alarm is triggered, the air-conditioning is switched off, and powerful fans extract air and any smoke or fumes through the roof.

While air travel may be inexorably on the increase, air – craft, whether landing or taking off, cause considerable annoyance and sometimes to people living under the flight path. Of the great conurbations, London is one of the worst affected. Vast swathes of south – west London (including what for centuries were considered the most idyllic reaches of the River Thames, around Richmond and Twickenham, as well as Windsor Castle and its great park) are subject almost every minute of the day to the drone or roar of low – flying aircraft. Indeed, it often seems that local residents are powerless in the face of economic imperatives, whatever sops are offered in the way of public or restrictions on night flying. Free double – glazing may help indoors but not when people wish to sleep with the window open (a fairly elementary freedom) or to enjoy their gardens.

It is important to realize that noise pollution from airports is a worldwide problem, and that environmental groups, particularly in North America, are making headway in gaining real reductions in noise and intrusiveness. Clearly, it is universally desirable that manufacturers produce aircraft and aircraft engines that generate less and less noise. The sheer number of people affected by the growing volume of air traffic around the world should force the issue higher up the agenda of aircraft manufacturers, airport authorities, airlines and city and national governments.

Today’s architects exert themselves to produce buildings that are simple to use and negotiate, spacious, calming and pleasant to spend time in. Hence the increasing emphasis on daylight, airiness, and lofty proportions. But there is an alternative view, trenchantly expressed by the columnist Simon Jenkins in London’s Evening Standard on 26 September 1997 :

I love some airports, especially Heathrow. It is Old Docklands reincarnated, a shambles teaming with people and sin. Each time I approach the access tunnel I expect to see the heads of thieving baggage handlers impaled on the spike of the tacky Concorde model Heathrow doubles as Butlin’s and Britain’s Ellis Island. For the streetwise it offers the fastest dash from car to plane in Europe. For the ing?nue, it is a Third World Waterfront, swarming with lascars, bureaucrats and cut purse

Jenkins asserts that Modern airports were built by Governments, largely for prestige. Contrast, he say, the areas where customer choice is sovereign:

Look at the club lounges, bars, cafes and shopfronts of modern airports. Gatwick’s shopping mall is now called a village Passengers at Heathrow search for leather, wool panelling, table lamps, “pub” and private lounges.

The airports in this book represent the architectural expression of a decade in which patronage has begun to move from government to the commercial sector. Customer needs and desires are becoming more of a priority. A new dimension in airport design was put forward by Peter Hodgkinson of the Taller de Arquitectura for a new airport to serve the booming leisure sector on Tenerife. Large numbers of tourists come to the Canaries on package holidays, and hotels are keen to release departing guests before new ones arrive, leaving as much time as possible to prepare rooms. As a result, some passengers can be faced with very long waits.

The new terminal planned by Peter Hodegkinson was designed to have the ambience and facilities of a country club as much as a terminal, with opportunities for passengers to swim, sunbathe and play games. While this project is on hold, across the globe Singapore’s Changi has already pioneered this concept in relaxation. Many connecting passengers choose Singapore as a stopover or hub because it offers the use of a swimming pool.

At changi there is a Transit Hotel Complex, with fifty furnished rooms, sauna and shower rooms, a fitness centre and a rooftop swimming pool and Jacuzzi, a poolside bar and a putting green for golfers. Other facilities include a business centre, nursery, karaoke lounge and hairdressing salon. According to Passenger Terminal World (January – March 1997), Changi is the first airport in the world to have a twenty – four – hour Internet centre. This service is located in the departure transit lounge of Terminal 2, providing both information (a homepage describes Singapore’s history, people and festivals) and entertainment. It allows the business passenger to make full use of his or her time and has the added advantage of providing the most up–to–date play technology. Travellers can send, retrieve, download and print e – mail. They can charge – up notebook computers, surf the World Wide Web, and communicate with other Internet users.

The 1990s may come to represent a high watermark in terminal building. There is already a trend towards pre – airports check – in, usually at city railway stations. If this spreads it will lead to a reduction in the size of airport check – in hall – at present a dominant feature occupying the prime position at most airports. Over the last decade, more and more space has been taken up by baggage –handling facilities, in many cases at least a whole floor of a very large building.

Thought is being given now to alternatives: for example, home baggage collection, several hours before a flight depart, relieving passengers of the need to struggle to the airport with their baggage. If such a trend was to develop, much baggage sorting could take place in a building quite separate from the terminal, even away from the airport altogether. Of course, there will always be a demand for baggage check-in at the airport, but faced with the burgeoning costs of space and security, alternatives will continue to be investigated.

The dominant trend apparent in this book is that bigger is better. It cannot be long before the cry of small is beautiful returns dramatically to terminal design.

From : AIRPORT BUILDERS, Marcus Binney : John Wiley & Sons, Great Britain : 1999.