High Design: Airports as Aspirational Buildings

 "Airports are ugly," Douglas Adams already observed. "Some are absolute ugly. Some attain a bulk of anamorphosis that can alone be the aftereffect of a appropriate effort."

The UK antic fabricated a accurate point. At the time of committing that anticipation to cardboard in the late-1980s, it seemed that functionality had all too generally appear at the bulk of aesthetics. One bare alone to appointment either of Europe's two busiest hubs – Heathrow and Charles de Gaulle – to accede how an added aggregate in air biking and commuter numbers over the above-mentioned decades had affected operators into bolt-ons and amplification programmes with little or no architectural merit. And these were not abandoned cases.

Fast advanced 20 or so years, however, and the bearings has changed. For arch architects, airports are now authority projects and those answerable with allotment them are searching for something that transcends action and makes a far greater statement.

"For a continued time architects disregarded the airport as an aspirational architectonics type," says Curtis Fentress. "What we saw traveling up in the 1950s and 1960s were added like warehouses or supermarkets than abundant busline terminals. Low ceilings, dingily lit captivation areas, accessories not antithetical to those begin in a grocery abundance – they were not absorbing spaces."

The US architect, who refers to Heathrow as 'the Monty Python maze', was in the beat of a bearing that looked again at what an airport should accomplish and signify. Despite traveling on to architectonics a portfolio of award-winning facilities, including Seoul's Incheon All-embracing – consistently voted the world's best – he is conceivably still best accepted for his aboriginal airport project, Denver All-embracing (DIA), which acclaimed its 15th ceremony endure year. In his eyes, this was a bold changer, revolutionising "the way the apple looks at airports and the cities that body them".

"The 1960s and 1970s were all about action and efficiency, and that led to the designs we saw for terminals such as Atlanta and Dallas Fort Worth," he explains. "An befalling to accept added memorable gateways wasn't too top on the agenda. The abstraction of creating an figure was something we absolutely pushed with DIA and the actuality that it has become so alike with the city-limits and arena is attestation to how acknowledged such an access can be."

Santiago Calatrava is a man who is aswell able-bodied abreast in the authority of figure design. The Spaniard has created aspirational architectural landmarks for cities such as Dublin, Buenos Aires, Toronto and Salford. He has been answerable with administering the next appearance in DIA's evolution: designing a abuse station, auberge and two bridges as allotment of the south terminal's redevelopment.

Uncertain as to whether one can affirmation aspirational airport architectonics as a avant-garde abnormality – he cites Eero Saarinen's TWA terminal at JFK and Dulles Airport as 'moving, admirable achievements' – Calatrava feels that a about-face in calibration over the accomplished 20 years has led to practices and operators 'thinking bigger'.

"The befalling is there to accomplish a absolute statement," he says. "These accessories generally sit in isolation, they are beheld from distant as able-bodied as by those casual through their halls. That presents astronomic abeyant to actualize a 18-carat landmark. You accept all that basement to plan with; ample canopies, all-inclusive areas, bridges, stations. The abstraction of affective humans through these phases, creating and abutting spaces of quality, it is a admirable adventitious to accomplish an impression."

But an all-too-common criticism of abreast architectonics is that the iconic now comes at the bulk of locale. Calatrava, for example, has again been accused of creating 'one-liners', architectonics changeable barrio and structures that board no advertence credibility to cultural ambient or bounded heritage.

"Landmarks are formed through either accurately capturing the places in which they sit or through application the cant of special, altered structures," he says. "Is there a appropriate way? I don't know, but if we allocution about airports, these places accept all-embracing links, humans casual through from all locations of the globe. An all-embracing appearance should, therefore, be acceptable, as continued as that appearance is absolutely special."

Fentress appears beneath sure. DIA's 15-acre, Teflon-coated compactness bolt is striking, but the aftereffect is acute through its abstraction of the Rockies, arresting in the distance, and attenuate admiration to the region's Native American heritage. The artist is committed to accouterment a faculty of place.

"I absorb a lot of time accepting to apperceive the breadth in which I'll be working, its culture, humans and history," he says.

"Context is vital. For Raleigh-Durham All-embracing (RDU) in North Carolina there is a bequest of craftsmanship, of humans application their hands, alive with the region's hardwoods. But there are aswell three above universities in the area. It's a analysis triangle underpinned by a huge bulk of brainpower. Those were all accommodation I capital to actualize in the final design."

A faculty of place

The strands of achievement and high-tech beat were alloyed aural RDU's Terminal 2, the final appearance of which opened in January, through the use of a lenticular copse bandage anatomy acknowledging the roof. However, even if the artist enters cultures that are beneath anon accustomed to his North Carolinian roots, his appetite is to actualize something instantly recognisable to those for whom he is building, while appetite for an ambiguous 'uniqueness'.

"In South Korea I spent weeks ingraining myself into the culture, travelling the country, visiting cultural landmarks, belief the curve and forms begin in acceptable buildings," he says. "Airports should never be about the architect; they accept to focus on the humans and the place. Yes be memorable, but arm-twist added than just the anamnesis of the architectonics itself. Call to apperception the city, arena or country breadth it stands."

But the accord amid airport and city-limits can be disjointed. Accessories that lie in the affection of a city-limits are generally resented due to the babble and cartage created, while operators become balked by the acerbity and constraints that a neighbouring association may bring. Meanwhile, airports that sit alfresco the city-limits banned may be beneath belted if it comes to growth, but abreast makes it that abundant harder to become allotment of the added breadth or coin a audible identity.

The airport experience

The abstraction of an 'airport city' excites Calatrava. He defines his plan with DIA, which lies 40km from city-limits Denver, as 'bringing the city-limits afterpiece to the airport' and the approaching abuse arrangement goes some way appear authoritative this a reality. However, acknowledged realisation of this ambition goes above carriage links and requires that the ability becomes added than alone a gateway. The abstraction of creating a destination in its own appropriate is not something Douglas Adams could accept envisaged 25 years ago, but it is the aspiration of today's aggressive architects and operators.

When apprenticed for examples of airports that accept gone some way appear accomplishing this, Calatrava cites Zurich and Munich. With offices in the former, it is a abode he has appear to apperceive able-bodied and the Spanish artist has been addled by the way in which the ability is acclimated by the city.

"Local humans biking there at weekends – it's alone ten account from the capital base by alternation – because the shops are open, it has acceptable restaurants, families like to see the airplanes and absolute efforts accept been fabricated to ability out above air passengers," he says.

"Munich is added from the city-limits centre, but if you appear from that airport it feels as admitting you are in an absolute place.

"There are plazas, gardens, accustomed events, an upmarket hotel, a activity of activity and an ambient one doesn't get in abounding airports. Again, you see humans after luggage; locals who accept travelled there accurately to yield advantage of the amenities."

The accent of architectonics in authoritative this eyes a absoluteness should not be underestimated. While functionality from an operations angle accept to never be overlooked, there is now a appeal for the airport artist to accede accommodation such as the humanisation of mega scale, ahead belted to aggressive burghal projects, creating spaces and flows added affiliated to mini cities. This has been apprenticed by a charge to maximise acquirement on both abandon of the aboideau and by a new bearing of operators who recognise the abeyant allowances that architectonics and architectonics can accompany to the all-embracing airport acquaintance and the basal line.

As a able artist in her own right, DIA's aerodynamics administrator Kim Day is the clothing of this trend. Calatrava cites her input, announcement a alertness to allotment acclaim that is a aberration in the apple of 'starchitects', and believes Day's attendance has been invaluable.

"You wish to be confronted by anyone who appreciates the achievability for such a arrangement to bear absolute change," he argues. "With that getting in place, those added down aswell advance a mentality that helps move the action along. This is a aggregation accomplishment and accepting humans aflame about what is getting done and aflame about the approaching of the airport makes realising a eyes all the easier."

He aswell talks of 'architectural heritage', the actuality that Denver already plays host to barrio advised by arch architects fatigued from several eras and styles, and cites Chicago and Bilbao as cities that are analogously acceptant to aggressive architectural ideas.

Local involvement

Any amplification activity at DIA is aswell helped by the actuality it sits on 53 aboveboard afar of absolute estate, authoritative it by far the better all-embracing airport in the US, and is acclaimed for benefiting from a rather hands-off access if it comes to action from bounded government.

But Fentress's adventure at LAX, the $1.545bn Bradley West project, could not be added different. It comprises a 100,000m² new architectonics accumulation food, cooler and retail outlets, exceptional lounge space, continued aegis and association facilities, 15 boarding gates and broadcast commuter hold-room areas to board new-generation aircraft such as the Airbus A380. Having not undergone any cogent infrastructural upgrades aback the 1984 Olympics, LAX has become cautiously acclimated to the blackballed moniker of 'America's Worst Airport'.

Fentress has accustomed to transform this accompaniment of diplomacy through involving the bounded community, allurement for ascribe as to what a adapted ability should embody. The aftereffect can be apparent in the wave-like roof forms that arm-twist the airport's Pacific ambience and through affairs to absorb elements of media and retail altered to the city. Efforts to accomplish action and assemblage humans abaft this new appearance accept acutely accepted successful.

Contemporary requirements

It has taken this continued to set LAX aback on the alley to acceptable a world-class facility, which is attestation to the bequest of problems that architects and operators face in bringing absolute infrastructures up to speed.

"Based on the huge changes in air biking of the endure 50 years we now accede a greater charge for adaptability in the structures we're creating," says Fentress. "Operationally, things accept afflicted greatly. E-ticketing is transforming the way we anticipate about admission halls and aegis requirements accept become unrecognisable. These are apropos airports are still disturbing to address, but you aswell charge to board the next bearing of changes that are abiding to follow." Calatrava agrees and cites his acquaintance of designing abuse stations as a absolute counterpoint. "People absorb beneath time in the base travelling by abuse so if abundance increases managing the acceleration in cartage is beneath of an issue," he says.

"Airports are different. The aforementioned action requires connected amplification central and in foreground of the facility. In just a decade you can see a terminal around crave duplication."

But even the best intentions do not consistently suffice. Calatrava accustomed criticism from the Spanish airport authorities for his capital terminal at Sondica Airport, Bilbao, if it started to hit near-capacity in 2007. He rejects such accusations out of duke and blames the authorities for any issues apropos overuse.

"This was initially perceived as a huge all-embracing airport, but it was a political accommodation to actualize something smaller," he says. "From the alpha the ambit was there to extend the ability on both abandon and to double, even amateur capacity. Those designs were accustomed by the authorities and can still be realised, but the botheration is money – the accessible funds aren't there."

He credibility to a agnate bearings at Lyon Airport, breadth Calatrava advised an iconic abuse base in the mid-1990s. That, too, had aspirations to be an all-embracing hub for the region, alone for authorities to consolidate operations at Charles de Gaulle at its expense.