Beijing AirportBeijing / China, 2003-2008

The world’s largest and most advanced airport building - not only technologically, but also in terms of passenger experience, operational efficiency and sustainability – Beijing Airport will be welcoming and uplifting. A symbol of place, its soaring aerodynamic roof and dragon-like form will celebrate the thrill of flight and evoke traditional Chinese colours and symbols.

Beijing’s new international airport terminal will be the gateway to the city as it welcomes athletes from around the world to the twenty-ninth Olympiad in 2008. The world’s largest and most advanced airport building - not only technologically, but also in terms of passenger experience, operational efficiency and sustainability - it will be welcoming and uplifting. A symbol of place, its soaring aerodynamic roof and dragon-like form will celebrate the thrill and poetry of flight and evoke traditional Chinese colours and symbols.

Located between the existing eastern runway and the future third runway, the terminal encloses a floor area of more than a million square metres and is designed to accommodate an estimated 43 million passengers per annum, rising to 53 million by 2015. Although conceived on an unprecedented scale, its design expands on the new airport paradigm created by Stansted and Chek Lap Kok. In that sense it represents the crest of a learning curve. Designed for maximum flexibility to cope with the unpredictable nature of the aviation industry, like its predecessors, it aims to resolve the complexities of modern air travel, combining spatial clarity with high service standards. Public transport connections are fully integrated, walking distances for passengers are short, with few level changes, and transfer times between flights are minimised. Like Chek Lap Kok, the terminal is open to views to the outside and planned under a single unifying roof canopy, whose linear skylights are both an aid to orientation and sources of daylight - the colour cast changing from red to yellow as passengers progresses through the building.

The terminal building will be one of the worlds most sustainable, incorporating a range of passive environmental design concepts, such as the south-east orientated skylights, which maximise heat gain from the early morning sun, and an integrated environment-control system that minimises energy consumption and carbon emissions. In construction terms, its design optimises the performance of materials selected on the basis of local availability, functionality, application of local skills, and low cost procurement. Remarkably, it will have been designed and built in just four years.

Client: Beijing Capital International Airport Company Ltd.
Consultants: Arup, Davis Langdon, Arup, Michel Desvigne, Speirs and Major, Arup, BIAD, BNP Associates Inc, Design Solutions, Logplan GmbH, NACO, Reef U.K.

National Arena Scotland / Glasgow, UK, 2005-2009

Scotland’s National Arena will be an exciting new addition to the expanding cultural and event hub at Glasgow’s Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. The new Arena will provide an outstanding indoor venue for concerts and performances. A highly flexible building, it is designed to accommodate a wide range of events - from pop concerts to grand theatrical shows

Scotland’s National Arena will be an exciting new addition to the expanding cultural and event hub at Glasgow’s Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre. The new Arena will provide an outstanding indoor venue for concerts and performances. A highly flexible building, it is designed to accommodate a wide range of events - from pop concerts to grand theatrical shows. The Arena will provide both visitors and performers with the best possible experience of concerts and live performance.

As part of the new Queen’s Dock (QD2) development, the Arena’s relationship to the Clyde Auditorium and the river itself creates a fresh public approach to the SECC, framing a new outdoor square. The main entrance is carved into a generous top-lit ground level foyer. The second main foyer, at high level, has its own distinct character with views south through a glazed facade, over the public square to the river. The state-of-the-art auditorium provides a performance ‘bowl’ with seating for up to 12,500 people at ground level with a combination of fixed, retractable and removable seating to create different staging and concert layouts, including some sports events. The upper part of the building is clad in translucent material which allows the front of the building to glow at night and will also facilitate the projection of patterns or images onto the façade to subtly change its appearance.

The angle of the roof gives a low profile facing onto the expressway. Moving around to the south of the building, the façade reveals itself, culminating in the 40m-high front elevation. Internally, fixed seating wraps around the stage above ground level, rising further to the front to optimise the balance between viewing angle and distance to the stage. This gives the auditorium its distinctive sloping appearance. The roof of the auditorium will itself be spectacular, spanning 120 metres in a shallow dome of diagonally latticed steelwork.

Client: Scottish Exhibition Centre Ltd (SEC)
Consultants: Arup, Gardiner & Theobald, Arup

via Foster + Partners