What will airports look like in the year 2075?
For seven years, Fentress Architects has been running a contest asking students for their ideas about what the airport of the future might look like.
This year, students from more than 50 countries registered about 500 ideas.
Here are the winning proposals. Which are your favorites?
1st Place: Infinity Airport
This design takes inspiration from the torus knot, which appears like two overlapping infinity symbols.
“The general shape of this airport concept combines the complexity of the form and the ideology of infinity by creating the circular and endless concourse system,” explains winner Daoru Wang, of North Carolina State University.
2nd Place: Newark Airport Biophilic Headhouse and Community Nexus
The project uses a rail access and a consolidated terminal to explore the concepts economic analyst John Kasarda described in Aerotropolis, explains Samantha Pires, at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark.
This project “brings economic development to the community that it serves,” said Pires. “It proposes that the Airport of the Future should not be governed by fear and ‘security theater’ that runs modern airports. [Instead] it should be a place for community engagement, job opportunities and a catalyst for neighborhood development and benefit.”
3rd place: London Heathrow 2075
“In this design, a drive-through concept sits below the airport terminal allows aircraft traffic and waiting times to be reduced,” explains winner Christopher Johnson, at the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, UK,
“Technological innovations suggest a reduction in physical passports, security and immigration as it moves to an online environment.”
People’s Choice Awards –Y3M
“This design envisions integration of an Elon Musk-like Hyperloop tube system and capsule fuselage technology,” explain winners Chai Yi Yang and Ng Yi Ming of the University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia…. “[T]he new model suggests a seamless transition from rail to flight—elementary yet expeditious.”
People’s Choice Award #2: Six Lane City
“Today, O’Hare International Airport in Chicago extends over 12 square miles, most of which are not fully exploited. We decided to create a new form of city, 650 feet above ground level, which will be built on top of the existing lanes or runways of the airfield,” said winners, Riki Rozenberg, Evelyn Kreslavsky, Mai Whiteson at Tel Aviv University.
“Our goal is to create an aerotropolis—an airport which integrates residential solutions, economic opportunities and cultural experiences, which, we think, will bring people closer together.”
First place wins $10,000; 2nd place $3000 and 3rd place $2000. Two People’s Choice Award winners receive $1000 each.
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