With their inefficient terminals and bloated footprints, today’s airports are typically ill-equipped to adapt to sharp increases in demand, scarce land availability or new flight technologies. These 13 futuristic airport designs address current and upcoming air travel challenges, from beautiful expansions currently under construction to fantastical concepts that accommodate vertical lift-off.
1. Airport Skyscraper
Beijing is in dire need of new airports, but also doesn’t have a lot of acreage to spare. This concept for the 2012 eVolo Skyscraper Competition solves both problems with ‘airport skyscrapers’ shaped like giant mushrooms.
Not only does this free up the space below, it also effectively reduces the length of the runways since wind speed is higher 450 meters in the air than it is at sea level.
2. Floating Airport for London with Underwater Tunnels
Using the surface of rivers and the sea also frees up precious land, as illustrated in this futuristic airport design by architecture firm Gensler. Envisioned for the Thames River, the London Britannia consists of a series of rounded pods connected to four floating runways anchored to the sea floor. Underground tunnels would connect passengers to the city and to European rail networks.
3. Shenzen Airport Mimics a Manta Ray
The Shenzen airport extension in China takes inspiration from both the natural form of a manta ray and the more obvious shape of an airplane.
It is covered in thousands of hexagonal skylights across a steel and glass canopy, creating a honeycomb pattern within the undulating all-white interior.
4. Malpensa Airport Proposal
A modular geometric roof consisting of brushed metal in three golden shades makes a big impact on the Malpensa Airport.
It creates a covered area that serves as an exhibition space and pedestrian walkway between the Express Train Station and Terminal 1 of the Milan Airport.
5. Modular Expandable Airport Concept by Foster + Partners
Airport expansions tend to take many years and many millions of dollars to complete, often causing further delays when the whole point is to meet growing demand. Architecture firm Foster + Partners realized that an easily expandable cellular design would enable the Queen Alia International Airport in Jordan to continue to grow in the future while also being environmentally sound.
The concrete modules have a high thermal mass for passive heating and cooling. Each dome of the tessellated roof canopy is a semi-autonomous unit.
6. Drive-Through Airport Concept
How much more efficient would airports be if planes were to simply ‘drive’ through the ground level of an elevated airport structure, passing through the arrival, servicing and departure areas as if going through a car wash?
This intriguing idea by architect Miklos Deri would reduce the required number of gates, cutting the airport’s total footprint, and speed up processing to fit in more flights per day.
7. LDN Delta Airport by Oliver Andrew
Another floating airport idea for London creates a delta of prefabricated, mass-produced artificial islands in the Thames Estuary upstream from London. Served by public transport only, the airport would require no parking garages, nor even any runways, as it’s envisioned for vertical take-off hypersonic jets.
It would even get its power from tidal currents rather than conventional electricity and gas. This concept by Oliver Andrew was the winner of the Fentress Airport of the Future contest.
8. Hypostyle Hall Terminal Concept by Stephan Sobl
This airport concept by Stephan Sobl takes the classic hypostyle hall design firmly into the 21st century to create dynamic interior spaces.
Hypostyle halls are spaces in which the roof is supported by columns. In this case, the columns are not so distinct, touching down to the ground in the form of dense field of smaller, stick-like shapes.
9. Floating Airport for San Diego
San Diego could put the Pacific Ocean to use for a much-needed airport expansion, as envisioned by lawyer Adam Englund. Inspired by oil rigs, the floating platform would be located 10 miles off the coast and also function as a three-square-mile artificial reef.
10. Jeddah International Airport by OMA
An intricate lacework facade lets natural light into a special terminal built just for the Saudi Royal Family at this Jeddah international airport concept by Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA.)
The main terminal is located adjacent to the private royal terminal, and is shaped like a ring with a lush green oasis at its centre. The design emphasizes making the departure areas just as beautiful and exciting as the arrivals, “allowing both to benefit from the same spatial conditions.”
11. AIR+PORT for Greenland
Small snowy islands off the coast of Greenland could serve as the basis for a new combination airport and shipping port. The cross-shaped AIR + PORT concept by BIG and Tegnestuen Nuuk addresses the looming boom in travel to and from this isolated continent due to new shipping routes and increased oil drilling.
Currently, Greenland residents are entirely dependent on air traffic for domestic commutes, yet low demand due to the small population makes flights incredibly expensive. The new airport would provide a transit hub between Europe and America, cutting costs for locals.
12. Self-Sustaining Los Angeles Airport
The runner-up in the Airport of the Future contest imagines a self-sustaining airport for Los Angeles that gets its power from algae grown in nearby farms.
Says designer Martin Sztyk, “The individual person can navigate through the immense scale of the Airport of the Future as it is designed to be a simple, self-similar system of arched terminals. The linear-axis of the airport’s design allows for vehicular or pedestrian access. Overall, the Airport of the Future has to embrace the past of commercial flying with new technological advances in flight to make flying enjoyable again.”
13. Pocket Airports
Coming in third, the Pocket Airports concept by Alenxander Nevarez addresses several futuristic possibilities: hypersonic flight, electric propulsion and vertical take-off landing ability. Adapting to these new technologies could require a total shift in how airports are conceived and built. Pocket Airports are smaller and located throughout any given city, so they’re just as accessible as a subway system and have a smaller environmental impact. They could even be integrated into and on top of existing buildings.
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