Anthony Leslie takes a closer look at Asia-Pacific’s cutting edge airport architecture.

The world is in a state of flux. As the gloomy news of recession continues to intensify, there is much talk of how the world will never be the same again.

Without question, airports will be key developments within whatever new world structure emerges. And architects and other design professionals are positioned to respond with new visions for the road before us.



New ways of thinking about travel, security, sustainability and economic growth will be reflected in the design of next-generation airports. The world at large will have to deal with remarkably similar issues: internationalism vs. regionalism, the scale of an enterprise and a sense of meaning.

The airport has come to represent so much in the early 21st century, with the drive for ever-greater capacity embodied in bigger and more ambitious structures. ‘Gateway’ or ‘iconic’ forms reflect the aspirations of a nation, state or city. More and more efficient processors capitalise on the huge increase in the mobility of people and as nodes or motors, generating airport cities that create jobs and wealth beyond the limits of an airport itself.



Like all building types, the airport terminal is no longer a pure breed, but instead, a complex blend of travel, retail, commercial and transport interchange. One day, when technology allows, it will truly become the heart of a living community.

But what about the buildings themselves? In Southeast Asia and the Pacific Rim, cutting edge airport design is represented in built form, providing a wonderful opportunity to examine the evolution of airport architecture.

Sendai International Airport in Japan represents a relatively modest scale of thinking in the region. Designed by HOK and opening in 1998, it offered 40,000 square metres of terminal. The domestic and international wings are connected by a central garden atrium that serves as a gathering place and focal point. A glazed tubular concourse provides access to the planes, and a ground-level plaza offers space and facilities for business and local community use.

As the region began to develop dramatically as an economic force, airports began assuming a dual role, both as processors of larger numbers of people and as emblems of their countries. Competition creates an appetite for design exuberance, and designers strive to predict and form the future through the buildings they create.

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), Hong Kong International Airport and Beijing Capital (in respect of its magnificent new Terminal 3) are three airports that embody forward-thinking visions.



Ambitious for its time (the largest airport in the world when it opened), Hong Kong International Airport processes a remarkable 48.6 million passengers per annum. Based on a master plan developed by HOK, it sits on reclaimed land (so much reclaimed land that it increased Hong Kong's landmass by nearly 1%).

HOK developed the idea for the single, giant processor house, a significant step away from the then prevalent American-based model of driving to separate small terminals. Increased efficiencies were gained, along with a plan that offered more flexibility for future ways in which an airport could be organised and operated. Foster + Partners delivered a marvelously elegant exterior and interior with a limpid quality of light well-matched to the climate of Hong Kong.

Taking the giant processor one step forward is Beijing’s Terminal 3, also designed by Foster + Partners, in conjunction with NACO and ARUP. At the time of opening, it was the largest building by area in the world at nearly one million square metres.

The scale of ambition and speed of execution were breathtaking. As an architectural representation of China’s emergence into the world, coinciding with the hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games, the building captured the mood of its time. In this building, the grand gesture of the diagram is reinforced by a clear roof covering everything, supported by elegant, widely spaced columns.

The ceiling is the surface that unites the building, clearly visible from all the public concourses. The detailing of the roof, cladding and interior finishes embody an "international" feel, using the language of mass production and the machine. Its scale, however, is appropriate to China.



Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) has a capacity of approximately 35mppa, with the original main terminal designed by the Japanese architect Kurokawa, in association with Akitek Jururancang.

The roof gives the impression of a modular tented structure, with giant seams opening up to let in abundant natural light. The shaded, inclined glazed external walls provide panoramic views of the lush vegetation around the main concourses. The ceilings are lined with slatted wood, a conscious reference to Malaysia’s tradition of sustainable wood production.

Again, the roof encloses the spaces, unifying them. Supporting the ceiling are shaped columns clad in Italian marble. They contain a ventilation system and have light beacons at their head. Their form offers order to the spaces, with the granite adding to the effect of a cool, shaded environment.

In the long concourses leading from the departure hall, the lighting is placed in the ceiling in a random manner, contrasting with the restrained, orderly lighting arrangements elsewhere.

A wonderful glazed courtyard, placed in the centre of the satellite, is planted with small forest trees. Although very much a modern building of its time, it is constantly trying to make reference to the country and climate in which it is built.

KLIA was also the first airport to include a purpose built low-cost terminal catering specifically to the ‘no-frills’ segment of the market. By no means a cheap building, it starts to address a key issue that many airports continue to face: How does the architecture and interior design approach reflect the differences between a terminal catering to traditional travellers and one offering flights operated by low-cost airlines, whilst leaving both sets of travellers satisfied with their experience?



Many of the most recent airport terminals are now officially classified as megastructures. Although we have the ability to design and construct these huge buildings, is there a limit to their size? This is one of the most important questions in modern airport design, and the issues include:

• Transportation to/from the terminal is vital. Rail is especially important, as there is a limit to the number of cars that you can bring to a single site.

• The form of terminals is being driven by the increasing number of large airplanes parked at fixed stands and the continued desire to move passengers to and from them in a reasonable time, whilst maintaining efficient aircraft taxiing routes.

• Baggage handling: can the systems get any larger and more complex?

• Size of the building: extensive travel distances within the terminal demand the introduction of more technology, including rapid baggage systems and automated people movers. More expense and greater dependence on the reliability of machinery creates challenges; transfer times, particularly important at airports relying on such traffic for their business case, are made longer and/or more difficult to achieve.

But there are also psychological issues: does the size of the spaces overwhelm the individual and reduce the quality of the travelling experience? Does the massive scale distance the individual from the poetry and romance of air travel by creating only anonymous shopping mall-style promenades, thus denying the opportunity for a real sense of place and a welcome pause in the otherwise continuous motion of long distance travel?

Architects and engineers continue to dazzle with ever more exuberant structures supporting graceful roofs. The buildings are beginning to become more responsive to the environments in which they reside.

In Europe, airport operators are committed to achieving carbon neutrality for their buildings. In America, sustainability is being integrated in innovative ways, with HOK’s terminal for Delta Air Lines at Boston's Logan International Airport earning the first LEED certification and the newly completed Indianapolis International Airport terminal targeting LEED Silver.

This new environmental way of thinking goes beyond the terminal and in some cases the airport site itself. It even extends to how passengers are brought to and from the facility.

And what about eliminating the vehicle drop-off as the dominant feature in front of terminal buildings and, where appropriate, replacing it with vibrant public space, exploiting the connections between the airport and the area it serves?

This also leads to one of the more obvious examples of thinking beyond the airport boundary – the rise of the airport city. The master plan for Hong Kong International Airport, which HOK helped develop, was motivated by making such connections. With the construction of SkyPlaza Terminal 2 (check-in only), a connection was made between air, land and sea.

This connection in turn provides the economic momentum to connect to a mall with shops, restaurants and entertainment facilities. The 36 bay coach station provides a direct connection to Mainland China, and there is also a ferry terminal, a golf course and a second airport hotel. We find ourselves increasingly involved in this type of work, finding new ways to help clients realise the full potential of their asset.

When a client is interested in future-focused design, we can't help but acknowledge that the world does not stand still and that we can only speculate on the travel needs of the next generation.

Standing in the Musee D’Orsay (once the Gare D’Orsay, one of the main railway terminals of Paris), a colleague and I recently admired the fine architecture of the magnificent space, before musing on whether the same fate awaited some of the grand airport structures of today.

ASIA-PACIFIC AIRPORTS//JANUARY-MARCH 2009