Archinect - News

Moshe Safdie on making the iconic spaces that have defined his career

2022-09-27T09:00:00-04:00

On the heels of Safdie’s massive donation to his alma mater McGill University, the 84-year-old architect sat down with CNN in Singapore to dissect his career and discuss his new memoir If Walls Could Speak out next week from Grove Atlantic.

The creator of the iconic Marina Bay Sands (which is about to begin work on a $1.35 billion expansion he says will not include an extension of its famous skybridge) touched briefly on impressive recent designs around Asia, including the Jewel Changi Airport, Habitat Qinhuangdao, and Raffles City Chongqing before veering off into an assessment of the region’s labor markets. He then reasserted the idealism that helped define his career and lamented the contemporary faddish use of biophilia — an element critical to the philosophies that are inherent in his garden-lined residential designs.

“There's a cynicism about so many architects...

KPF and Heatherwick reveal design for Changi Airport Terminal 5 in Singapore

2022-09-06T11:51:00-04:00

KPF and Heatherwick Studio have offered an update on the design of Changi Airport’s Terminal 5 in Singapore. Described by the designers as a “bold re-imagination of the airport paradigm,” the new terminal will increase the airport’s capacity by 50 million annual passengers.

KPF and Heatherwick were awarded the bid to design the terminal back in 2018, part of a larger project to deliver 100 additional aircraft stands, a three-runway system, and new cargo complexes. The airport was also the focus of international attention in 2019 with the unveiling of Moshe Safdie’s “Jewel Changi” addition, featuring the world’s largest indoor waterfall.

The design of Terminal 5 adopts an “airport as a city” concept, where each component is seen as an opportunity to create a neighborhood with its own character. The team also bills the terminal as an “engaging new district” of benefit to travelers and locals, echoing Safdie’s move to combine natural and built elements within the airport.

Aerial credi...

Airports as destinations in themselves

2019-12-30T19:10:00-05:00

The new breed of airports take that altered reality and alter it some more, to create their own version of the world. If you want to be dystopian, airports are prototypes for sinister societies of the future, products of the military-entertainment complex where dictatorial government colludes with big business to create controlling environments. Where individuals are pacified by distractions and ruled by technology.

The Observer's Rowan Moore takes a critical look at the newest global breed of airport architecture, including the recently opened Beijing Daxing and the brand new Singapore Jewel Changi, in the face of climate change, commerce, and mass surveillance.

"It is sometimes pointed out that a modern airport occupies the ground area of a traditional city and has a comparable daytime population," Moore writes. "With its shops and parks, and its settings for romance and afternoons out, Changi is taking on more of the functions of a city, too."

Junkspace No More: Qatar's Plagiarism accusation highlights new status for airports

2019-11-09T09:00:00-05:00

A recent report in Bloomberg News detailing accusations that Safdie Architects' much-Instagrammed Jewel Changi Airport design had been lifted from a proposed expansion to Doha's Hamad International Airport highlights the changing status of airport design.

The accusation was quickly debunked, as Safdie's designs date back to 2013 prior to the Doha airport proposal, but the dust-up itself, as Bloomberg's Adam Minter points out, signals that "Airports, though, are no longer mere transit nodes. Over the past few decades, countries throughout Asia and the Middle East have come to see them as tools for advancing their ambitions and expressing their national self-conceptions. In short order, they’ve become audacious sources of soft power."

View of the Jewel Changi Airport, designed by Safdie Architects. Image © Changi Airport Group.

With the worldwide proliferation of iconic airport designs and the growing (and environmentally problematic) proliferation of air travel, airports have taken o...

The Jewel of Singapore, the newest addition to the Changi Airport dazzles visitors and locals alike

2019-04-12T16:27:00-04:00

Singapore is already known for its mesmerizing structures. However, the country wanted to make sure Singapore isn't only a great place to visit, but stopover! With international travel increasing over the years airports are becoming more than just lines and terminals. Many airports are becoming hubs for shopping, cuisine, and must-see attractions. Airport execs are now exploring new ways for airports to be "experienced, turning them into new "lifestyle hubs."

Jewel Changi Airport. Image courtesy of Changi Airport Group

Rain Vortex Waterfall. Image © Rachel Tay/Business Insider

Canopy Park Image courtesy of Changi Airport Group

One of the world's most multi-faceted airports, no pun intended, the Jewel Changi Airport has 280 new retail stores and restaurants which make up the ten-story facility. With the structure split five feet above and five feet below ground, the airport has become the most luxurious airport in the world. New attractions include the Canopy Park which is said to open...

Moshe Safdie's glass Jewel at Changi Airport to open on April 17

2019-03-29T20:24:00-04:00

The much-anticipated Jewel Changi Airport, with more than 280 shops and food and beverage outlets, will open its doors to the world on April 17....The highlights include a five-storey garden with 2,500 trees and 100,000 shrubs, with two walking trails. There is also a 40m-high Rain Vortex - the world's tallest indoor waterfall.

Moshe Safdie discusses the donut-shaped Jewel addition to the Changi Airport in Singapore

2018-05-31T15:47:00-04:00

A 250-meter-long bouncing net three stories above ground. A 50-meter-long suspended bridge with glass-panel flooring. Walking trails amongst a lush jungle of animal-shaped topiaries in a five-story terraced garden. A 40-meter-tall waterfall cascading from an opening in a vaulted glass roof canopy. An art sculpture made up of four giant, integrated slides. And that's just scratching the surface.

Safdie Architects's $1.27 billion Jewel Changi is the latest addition to Singapore's impressive Changi Airport. This donut-shaped structure will function as a central hub connecting three of the airport's current four terminals. Safdie's design features five stories of retail, gardens and restaurants, as well as a hotel with a five-story underground parking lot.

Safdie Architects's Jewel Changi addition to the Singapore Changi Airport. Image: Jewel Changi Airport Devt.

The domed structure consists of glass panel latticework framed in steel, producing a delicate covering over the space and allowing in plenty of light for the expansive gardens within.

Jewel Changi by Safdie Architects section view.

Jewel Changi also boasts a large mall within the gardens to attract both visitors and locals, further solidifying the airport as not only a function of travel but also a destination. T...

WOHA builds Crowne Plaza Changi Airport hotel extension in just 26 days

2017-08-22T15:32:00-04:00

WOHA unveiled the latest photos of their 103,495 square-foot extension for the Crowne Plaza Changi Airport (CPCA) hotel in Singapore. The extension was completed in a mere 26 days, according to the firm; quite the accomplishment considering the constrained site at one of the world's busiest airports. Completed last year, the 243-room hotel extension is Singapore's first private-sector commercial project that uses pre-fab, pre-finished volumetric construction techniques.

Client OUE Hospitality Trust found that “using the PPVC method has slashed manpower requirements on site by as much as 45 percent. It added that the use of PPVC has shaved off 17 percent in overall construction time, with about 40 percent in manpower savings,” WOHA describes.

SAA and Benoy reveal design for Changi Airport Terminal 4 in Singapore

2013-11-06T17:31:00-05:00

SAA Architects from Singapore and UK-based Benoy unveiled the design concept for the Changi Airport Terminal 4 during the T4 groundbreaking ceremony on Nov. 5. SAA won the commission from the Changi Airport Group back in mid-February 2013.