Beijing airport bags Building of the Year

Breaking news: Beijing Capital International Airport has just been named the Building of the Year by the UK’s architecture sector during the prestigious AJ100 survey and awards. Terminal 3 at the airport, designed by Foster + Partners, was selected unanimously as the winner from a shortlist of five buildings by the judging panel.


According to Dexigner.comthe judges were impressed by the airport's elegant form and light-filled interior, "which will create a memorable and inspiring environment for the 50 million passengers who will travel through the terminal by 2020.

"The jury felt that the new terminal building incorporates subtle references to Chinese architectural traditions, giving it a strong sense of place.

"Integrated public transport and short walking distances for passengers have also been carefully addressed in the design, and the jury also recognized the challenge of delivering such a technically complex building in this location.

The changing face of London City Airport

London's airports are much maligned. Over priced, over capacity and often overshadowed by sleeker hubs overseas. But that's because most passengers overlook (that enough over prefixes - ed) London City Airport, the modest European terminal situated in the City's regenerated former docklands. The recent extension to the Dockland's Light Railway, however, is helping revive the airport's fortunes.

Hidden Europe, a bi-monthly magazine with a sideways look at the art of travel, has published this thoughful short article on the changing face of Silvertown, the location of London City Airport.

Last time I went to Silvertown, about ten years ago, I travelled on a train that creaked and screeched on ancient tracks, skirting derelict docks and gaunt shells of long abandoned factories to reach a single railway platform just by the Albert Road post office. hidden europe returned to Silvertown yesterday, to find the nineteenth-century railway tracks replaced by a sleek modern light railway. The relentless redevelopment of London's docklands marches on to the east, engulfing the remnants of old working class communities with adventurous new office blocks, warehousing and chic riverfront apartments.

On my first visit to Silvertown, an old man on Albert Road who had worked for years as a yard gang foreman in the nearby Tate and Lyle factory, told me how, until he was twenty years old, he had never once travelled out of the docklands. The factory still stands, but most of the buildings around have been levelled in recent years, including the old Tate and Lyle front office which was embellished with a verse from the Old Testament: "Out of the strong came forth sweetness." A decent enough motto for a factory that produced golden syrup from sugar cane.

Rathbone Street market in Canning Town, just two stops up the train line from Silvertown, was the furthest most Silvertowners ever ventured. A Saturday special. Pie and mash at Mrs Olley's café followed by ice cream at Murkoff's were Canning Town treats before Silvertowners hopped back on the train for the short ride home. Silvertown catered to all everyday needs. It had a barber, a cinema, a Congregationalist chapel, Herringshaw's grocery store, and even - for those wanting to splash out - a place to take lunch in style: the Beehive Dining Rooms run by Michael Heaslip.

And Silvertown today? Barred and shuttered, a tiny community that lives on its memories and waits for the bulldozers. The post office has closed and no ships from the tropics ever arrive at the lifeless Tate and Lyle pier. Silvertown has new horizons - and no longer are they limited to a Saturday train ride to Canning Town. For nowadays Silvertown is home to London City Airport, which offers flights to some three dozen destinations across Europe. You can fly to Nice or Madrid but no longer can you buy a stamp and have a natter at the Albert Road post office.

Prince George's "wooden" terminal grabs award

Skylight at Prince George Airport, originally uploaded by dora_explorer (biking in France).

Wood: simple, honest, lightweight, cheap and sustainable. It is undoubtedly the most underused and undervalued building material when it comes to air terminals. So it's nice that British Columbia's Prince George Airport has been rewarded for its excellence for innovation in architecture by the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada for making good use of wood.


According to a report in the Prince George Citizen, the judges remarked that the terminal's "durability, sustainability, elegant detailing and cost were all weighed in the decisions to develop a simple natural palette for the building," while adding that the creation of "simple beautiful surfaces and minimalistic detailing," openness of the interior to the extensions, "stressed and enhanced by an elegant roof that appears to float. " In sum, they called it an "elegant creation in the context of normal cost constraints."

The effect is breathtaking: creating a seamless"indoor-outdoor" experience for travellers in the departure lounge. Prince George is one of the few airports in the world where it is common that bears and other wildlife wander just opposite the terminal and beyond the runway. Don't worry there's a thick layer of paw-proof glass, just in case the beasties get too close.

Sneak peak: Barcelona Terminal 1

huge, originally uploaded by popatrapat.

Barcelona's shiny shiny Terminal one - an extension to its main hub - is due to open on June 16. We've found a few pre-launch pix for you - and it looks HUGE. Designed by Ricardo Bofill, the new terminal will increase capacity in Barca's long overcrowded airport from 30m to 55m passengers annually and will stretch over 1.000,000 m2. You can see many more images here. What is immediately apparent is that the new terminal will serve as a minimalist counterpoint to Madrid's technicolour Barajas, which opened a couple of years ago.

"The design of the building combines an international, multicultural character with the luminosity and warmth of Mediterranean architecture. Its transparency allows natural light to flood into all public spaces and provides panoramic views of the runways, the sea and the natural landscape. By combining maximum functionality, local technology, respect for the environment and unique architecture, the new airport terminal will become an intercontinental hub, a reference and original prototype for forthcoming hubs in the rest of the world."

Finntastic! Finnair's 40th anniversary reminds of the silver age of travel

Finnair remains one our favourite airlines. It's business class is second-to-none. But these pictures recently released to celebrate its 40th anniversary of its first flight to New York reveal that its heyday was the late 1960s when the companies embraced the futuristic, space-age aesthetic like no other.



(via the airline blog)

Overheard at Honolulu

Tyler Brule in this weekend's Financial Times has recorded this rather amusing exchange between an irate customer and a saintly check-in agent from Hawaiian Airlines:

Serviceman no 1: Is this the check-in for Japan Airlines?
Nice lady from Hawaiian: No, this is the check-in for ANA, operated by Air Japan.
Serviceman no 2: So we can check-in for JAL here?
Nice lady from Hawaiian: No, that’s down the concourse. Just beyond those counters to the left.
Serviceman no 2: So why are there separate check-ins for the same flight?
Nice lady from Hawaiian: Ummmm ... there’s not. This is for ANA, operated by Air Japan. Japan Airlines is the other national carrier.
Serviceman no 1: You mean there’s an airline called Japan Airlines and another one called Air Japan? That’s really f**ked-up.
Nice lady from Hawaiian: Hard to believe, I know, but it’s true.
Serviceman no 2: But JAL and Japan Airlines are the same thing, right?

He adds: "I didn’t linger long enough to see if the pair made it beyond security, but it was one of those moments when you question whether passport applicants should have to pass some type of exam."

Carrasco International: Montevideo's new superdome

The global recession may still be taking its toll, but it remains boom time for the world's airport enthusiasts. The latest opening to salivate over is the supremely space-age extension to Montevideo's
Carrasco International, whose gleaming dome is due to open later this summer, a few months behind schedule. We are impressed by Rafael Viñoly dome-like structure, which seems to offer both an abundence of open and space and natural light. Another reason, if one were needed, to head to Uruguay's undervalued capital.