airport architecture

FAA Call-Out: Design a Sustainable Control Tower

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Think you can design a cost-efficient, sustainable air traffic control tower?

The Federal Aviation Administration, (FAA) has more than 100 aging control towers at regional and municipal airports across the United States that will need to be replaced. So, the agency is launching a nationwide solicitation for a new design for control towers that can be built and operated sustainably.

The FAA points to the tower at Tucson International Airport (TUS) as an example of a sustainable tower building already in operation. The TUS tower is the first air traffic facility with net-zero energy consumption. It uses a 1,600-panel solar farm to generate power for all of its electrical needs. And it supplies unused power back to the grid. The solar farm also produces ice, which is stored in large containers and used to cool the building when solar panels are not generating electricity. 

You can read about the deadlines and the solicitation phases for the new tower RFP here.

But even if you’re not an architect or an engineer, note that the last time the FAA invited architectural firms to develop a modular design concept for new control towers it hired the company headed by then rising architect I.M. Pei. Several of the 16 Pei-designed towers—including at Chicago O’Hare, Sacramento, Madison, and Jacksonville international airports—are still operating.

At the Airport: News from SEA, SFB, & LFT

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Party at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport (SEA) is having an in-terminal and virtual celebration on Thursday, Nov 4 to celebrate the end of all the major construction at the N Concourse. If you happen to be traveling through SEA between 11 am and 1 pm, head to the N Concourse for music and spoken word performances, food sampling, art tours, and giveaways. The even will able streamed online. In the evening, at 6 pm, SEA will host a travel trends panel that will be streamed live as well.

Bee Mascot for Orlando Sanford Int’l Airport

We’re big fans of airport mascots and noticed that Orlando Sanford International Airport (SFB) has a bee as a mascot. We’re wondering if the beekeeper is an official part of the team.

Look What’s Coming to Lafayette Regional Airport

Lafayette Regional Airport (LFT) is opening its new terminal in January 2022 and it looks like it will have some colorful amenities.

What will we find at the airport of the future?

Airport Terminals, ,

What will the airports of the future be like?

We hope to find movie theaters, art galleries, salons, and someplace to do laundry.

Fentress Architects asked architecture students from around the world what they thought about the airport of the future for its annual Fentress Global Challenge (FGC), This year’s competition challenged students to envision airport mobility in the year 2100.

Students could choose between locating their terminals at an existing airfield, such as at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL), or at a yet undeveloped site.

“Various modes of transport were explored including pods for intra-airport transport.  Mag-lev cars, drones, hyperloops, hydrofoils, and air-rails were among the methods of inter-airport transport proposed,” Fentress reports. “Additionally, several different types of aircraft were studied including anti-gravity, vertical take-off, rockets, and spaceships.”

Entries were evaluated on five criteria, including technology and sustainability. Some submissions envisioned airports that would be able to create their own biofuel from algae and symbiotic bacteria. Others created floating structures that sought to restore coral reefs and ocean ecosystems. 

Here are images from the ten shortlisted entries. A jury of renowned airport architects, directors, planners, and scholars will announce a winner on December 1, 2021, and there will be cash prizes for First, Second, and Third Place.  Two People’s Choice Awards will be given, so you can cast your vote here.

Atlanta International Airport shows off lighted canopy

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Hatsfield Jackson Atlanta International Airport recently tested the lighting on the first three sections of its North Terminal canopy.

ATL Airport - green canopy

This canopy is one of a half dozen major construction projects under way at ATL as part of a major 20-year long development program, dubbed ATL Next, that the airport says is designed to boost capacity, renew and replace existing facilities and “enhance ATL’s aesthetic appeal.”

There will be canopies in front of the North and South passenger terminals and the full length of each canopy will be covered in a plastic material that will be able to be illuminated in different colors and patterns by thousands of embedded LED lights.

Work on the ATL’s North Canopy should be done by the fall. The South canopy is expected to be completed in Fall 2019.

The airport did a test run on the lights on part of the North Canopy last week. Neutral white light is expected to be the default color but on special occasions the canopies will be illuminated to mark specific events such as red, white and blue to honor Independence Day.

Other options already under consideration: red and black to celebrate a Falcons Super Bowl victory, or green to mark Earth Day.

Of course, ATL isn’t the first to get a cool lighted architectural feature.

Chicago’s O’Hare Airport has the “Sky’s the Limit” underground neon walkway.

OHARE NEON TUNNEL courtesy ORD

Detroit Metropolitan Airport has a lighted tunnel.

 

And Los Angeles International Airport has lighted pylons at it entrance that are often lit up in different color patterns to honor a holiday or special event.

What other cool lighted architectural features at airports should we add to this list?

The charming chairs of Changi Airport’s new Terminal 4

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From the self-service check-in and bag drop stations to the centralized security zone, plethora of shopping and dining options, art and other amenities, there’s plenty to love about Singapore Changi Airport’s new Terminal 4, which opened to the public on October 31, 2017.

I’m putting together a full report on what is certain to be yet another award-winning feature of Changi Airport, but right now let’s just take a photo tour of the chairs.

Comfortable and eye-catching, these are certain to be the backdrop of countless passenger selfies.

Here a few more seating snaps from my tour of the terminal on opening day.

These seats are on the landside area of the terminal.

And these post-security chicks and pups are seating strong enough to hold adults.