City gates have always been important structures that made a strong first impression on visitors. Today, this role has been taken over by airports, and thus cities are competing to build superairports, which will become bigger and more pompous in the future.
If in the past museums were indicators of a city's greatness, nowadays cities show their confidence and success with airports that are getting bigger and bolder in design. Historically speaking, the city gate has always been a symbol of city power, just remember the Babylonian Ishtar Gate and the Parisian Arc de Triomphe, but today this role is mainly taken over by airports. We have highlighted six such super-airports that offer the visitor a wonderful first impression of the city and try to charm him.
Mexico City, Mexico
In the style of a new trend, the famous British architect Norman Foster, in collaboration with his Mexican colleague Fernando Romero, plans to build the largest and most sustainably designed airport in Mexico City. They promise an airport like never before! A single terminal will serve six runways, and the curved roof is reminiscent of traditional Mexican architecture and has a span of over 100m.
Queen Alia International, Amman, Jordan
Lord Norman Foster already proved himself years ago with the construction of airports in Stansted and Hong Kong, so it is not surprising that his architectural office has a sea of new orders for airports. Last year, they designed the new terminal of the Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan, in which inspiration for the shape of the roof was drawn from Bedouin tents.
Terminal 1, Istanbul International, Turkey
The venerable British architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw made a name for himself by designing the international platform at Waterloo station in London, and in 2018 the construction of his new terminal in Istanbul, which will undoubtedly be the largest in the world, will be completed.
Terminal 3 Shenzhen Bao'am International, China
Terminal 3 of Shenzhen Bao Airport, which opened last year, was built according to the plans of the Italian architectural firm Fuksas. The curved roof structure of the building is pierced by hexagonal skylights, which allow a lot of natural light into the building.
Terminal 1, Lyon-St Exupéry Airport, France
The airport was designed by the British office of architect Lord Richard Rogers and is much smaller than the other airports presented in this article. Designing a small but elegantly designed building was a challenging task, as it was not allowed to visually compete with the nearby train station by the famous architect Santiago Calatrava.
London Britannia, London, UK
An imaginary project by the American bureau Gensler envisioned a floating airport on the Thames that would be connected to London by subway. Unfortunately, the project was not realized, and London is currently meeting the need for additional airport capacity with the expansion of Heathrow and Gatwick airports.
Taken from and adapted from:
www.gq-magazine.co.uk
