Beijing New Airport Terminal Building
The new airport in Beijing southern Daxing district will be the world’s largest commercial aviation hub, with seven runways and handling an annual 100 million passengers. The first phase of the airport will open in 2019 with four runways capable of accommodating up to 45 million passengers per year. The second phase of the project will continue to be developed, with capacity due to be expanded to 72 million passengers by 2025. When the entire development is completed in 2040, the total capacity is expected to be capable of accommodating up to 100 million passengers annually.
According to the team, the Daxing airport will be, “a key hub within Beijing’s growing transport network and a catalyst for the region’s economic development, including the city of Tianjin and Hebei Province“.
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
The design celebrates the connectivity and dynamism of air travel, expressed as a sequence of inspirational inter-connected public spaces. The flowing roof lines cover the large, column-free spaces and provide a sense of scale and orientation, welcoming the world to Beijing. All of the passengers’ pathways within the central atrium, create a multi-layered civic space – a public square and a meeting public place for passengers from around the globe – at the very heart of the terminal.
According to Ceccato, “curvaceous column break the space and provide you with a rhythm on the inside. You feel that it’s a continuous, fluid space but it has moments of pose“.
Rather than walking along one long corridor to transfer between flights, the radial design allows to walk a shorter distance to the center of the airport, then cut across the central atrium to the next destination. The radial layout greatly improves adaptability and sustainability by enabling the terminal to operate in the many different configurations most appropriate to the varying aircraft and passenger traffic throughout each day. The compact design also reduces the requirements for shuttle trains between the many terminals that are common at other large airports.
Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects
Housing many departure gates in one terminal with a single passenger handling center is also beneficial. This ultimately reduces the carbon footprint of the airport throughout its construction and operational life-time, further contributing to reaching the airport’s very high targets of environmental management and sustainability.
The overall symmetry of the airport terminal design, together with its flowing, interconnected forms create a fluid composition which evokes the harmony and balance evident in Chinese natural landscapes, while its colors and materials are an expression of visual language within traditional Chinese culture. The design of the new terminal reflects China’s rich cultural history and is a remarkable future at the center of a worldwide stage.
Project Information:
Architect : Zaha Hadid Architects
Location : Daxing, Beijing, China
Project Year : Expected to be 2040
Area : 700,00 square meters total floor area + 800,000 square meters ground transportation center