Zaha Hadid Has Ambitious Plans For Beijing

The world’s largest airport passenger terminal design has been revealed, conceived by ADP Ingeniérie (ADPI) and Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA). The Beijing New Airport Terminal Building in Daxing, Beijing, doesn’t have a completion date yet, but was submitted under the leadership of the Beijing New Airport Headquarters (BNAH), based on the bid-winning planning scheme by ADPI.

Following the 2011 international competition bid, in October 2014 the Beijing New Airport Headquarters created a Joint Design Team bringing together ADPI and Zaha Hadid Architects with competition consortium group members Buro Happold, Mott Macdonald and EC Harris to collaborate on the optimised concept design for the Beijing New Airport Terminal Building.

Interestingly, Beijing airport is already mammoth in size, however, due to the accelerated growth in China, is already exceeding its planned capacity. The latest terminal (Terminal 3) was only just finished in 2013, designed by a consortium of NACO (Netherlands Airport Consultants B.V), UK Architect Foster and Partners and ARUP. So the entire airport experience will be created by a plethora of European designers when this new terminal is complete.

Initially accommodating 45 million passengers per year, the new terminal will be adaptable and sustainable, operating in many different configurations dependant on varying aircraft and passenger traffic throughout each day. With an integrated multi-modal transport centre featuring direct links to local and national rail services including the Gaotie high speed rail, the new Daxing airport will be a key hub within Beijing’s growing transport network and a catalyst for the region’s economic development, including the city of Tianjin and Hebei Province.

The Joint Design Team scheme integrates principles originally developed during the competition phase by ADPI and the Zaha Hadid Consortium Group respectively, which included Pascall+Watson, Buro Happold, Mott Macdonald and EC Harris.

There is a definite Hadid design stamp at work here, with large sweeping, non-conforming arches, spans and curved angles on the interior, whilst a starfish layout from an aerial view, sits alongside plans by Sir Norman Foster’s Mexico City Airport plans or Abu Dhabi’s Midfield Terminal, currently in construction. It also follows the trend of large sweeping open space alongside plans by Grimshaw’s Istanbul airport and the Mexico City airport

ZHA’s projects include some of the world’s most popular, user-focused and adaptable civic architecture that “prioritises the public realm and user experience”. This expertise, together with ADPI’s history and knowledge of airport planning and development, will ensure the new terminal at Daxing to be the world’s most convenient, sustainable and future-proof airport.