Archinect - News

Sacramento International Airport announces $1.3 billion expansion project

2023-02-07T08:00:00-05:00

The Sacramento County Department of Airports, the entity that operates the Sacramento International Airport (SMF), has announced a $1.3 billion expansion project that will transform the airport to meet projected passenger growth over the next seven years.

Called SMForward, the expansion consists of six projects launching in 2024. To start is the construction of a $140 million pedestrian walkway, which will connect Terminal B to Concourse B. Additional projects include expansions to Terminal A and Concourse B, with new gates and amenities; a new Terminal B parking garage; and a consolidated ground transportation center that will bring taxi, rideshare, and off-site shuttle providers to one place that is walkable from both terminals. This major undertaking is expected to be completed in late 2027 following the completion of a new $400 million centralized rental car facility.

SMForward is the largest construction project in the Airport’s history. It will be financed through a combinati...

Aviation firm plans commercial flight powered by hydrogen for 2024

2021-10-28T16:41:00-04:00

Plans to operate commercial hydrogen-electric flights between London and Rotterdam have been announced, with those behind the project hoping it will take to the skies in 2024. In a statement Wednesday, aviation firm ZeroAvia said it was developing a 19-seater aircraft that would “fly entirely on hydrogen.”

ZeroAvia, Dutch airport management company Royal Schiphol Group, Rotterdam The Hague Innovation Airport Foundation, and Rotterdam the Hague Airport have announced a partnership to develop the project. The initiative sets a timeline for potentially the first international zero-emission commercial passenger flight. ZeroAvia’s research and development is focused on powering electric motors using hydrogen fuel cells.

According to ZeroAvia’s press release, it and Royal Schiphol Group are in advanced partnership talks with airlines to agree on an operator for the planned route between the UK and the Netherlands. The pair will collaborate on testing and demonstrating hydrogen supply chain refueling operations and how this system will be integrated at airports. They will also plan a regulatory framework and gauge industry and public sentiments on hydrogen-powered aircraft.

Norman Foster digs in on his stance on airport emissions

2021-09-03T16:26:00-04:00

I would argue that everything has a footprint, and in relative terms, the carbon footprint of air travel is relatively small. That does not mean it shouldn’t be addressed, but I do feel passionately that we have to address the infrastructure of mobility.

Norman Foster's airport projects have drawn in an increasing amount of business for the 54-year-old firm in the last two decades. Foster went as far last year as to withdraw the firm from Architects Declare, the group his firm joined the year prior to promote a broader set of climate change discussions in the industry.

Foster compared the impacts of air travel to the magnitudes larger footprint caused by meat production. The Pritzker-winning architect's full comments can be viewed in the Bloomberg video below.

AERIAL FUTURES release a new video exploring integration of airports and cities

2018-06-27T14:28:00-04:00

AERIAL FUTURES, a non-profit think tank exploring innovation in the architecture of flight, have created a new film titled Urban Constellations looking at the relationship between a city and its airports. Using NYC as a case study, this video asks how fragmented pieces of infrastructure can be reimagined more holistically, in order to simultaneously improve air travel and urban life.

The film features experts who discuss the challenges and opportunities for the future of NYC’s aerial infrastructure, drawing on the New York think tank’s focus on urban design and digital interfaces.

The next public AERIAL FUTURES event will take place on Thursday, July 19 at the Denver Art Museum. This edition, entitled Constructed Landscapes, will ask how airports influence the future of mobility and transportation.

Airbus to build interchangeable sleeping compartments in cargo hold

2018-04-16T15:49:00-04:00

European plane-maker Airbus has announced it is to develop lower-deck passenger modules that sit inside the cargo hold. In a press release Tuesday, the firm said it was partnering with Zodiac Aerospace to build the compartments, complete with sleeping berths for passengers. Airbus said the intention is to receive formal approval from aviation bodies by 2020 with the first installation to be made on an A330 aircraft.

Airbus and Zodiac Aerospace are creating sleeping modules that would be interchangeable with regular cargo containers. This would give airlines the flexibility to reconfigure their cargo on layovers or turnarounds. Their first mock-up was reportedly well received by airlines.

Take a look in their sleeping module mock-up:

A traveler's thoughts on fine-tuning airport design, for the sake of passengers

2016-04-06T14:49:00-04:00

Why are airports built for everyone — the city, the airlines, the retailers — except for the very people who use them the most: the passengers? When discussing his work, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was fond of saying, ‘God is in the details.’ Thanks to star architects, we now have towering, impressive halls of light and space. These new airports are the cathedrals of the 21st century: centers of communication, travel, family and commerce. But where are ‘God’s details’ in these new cathedrals?

“Architects have to try to create art and, at the same time, make room for sightlines, security checkpoints and control rooms,” writer Chris Holbrook says in his piece. “It’s an almost impossible juggling act, I realize, and it’s a small wonder that any airport gets built that isn’t just a cinder-block hovel with benches and rendition-style interrogation rooms.”

$6B expansion for Atlanta International Airport set to launch this year

2016-03-14T17:35:00-04:00

Two giant, translucent canopies spanning several lanes of roadway and sidewalks outside the domestic terminal will be among the most visible aspects of a $6 billion expansion and renovation project at the world’s busiest airport during the next 20 years, officials announced last week. Among other goals for the coming year: improving wait times for passenger security screenings...'Americans will not tolerate a one-hour wait as normal.'

Previous airport-related news on Archinect:

O’Hare airport announces $1.3B expansion deal

A new LaGuardia is the "airport that New York deserves", says Gov. Cuomo

Fancy $48M animal terminal to open in JFK Airport next year

Beacons in the sky: photographer Carolyn Russo celebrates the architecture of airport towers

Fancy $48M animal terminal to open in JFK Airport next year

2015-07-21T15:20:00-04:00

When a new terminal called The Ark opens next year, 178,000 sq.ft of posh amenities will include everything from a resort with suites that have large flat-screen TVs, to climate-controlled stalls, showers, massages, a private space especially set aside for penguin mating, a paw-shaped dog swimming pool, a jungle for cats made of live trees...and stables full of the finest hay a horse could hope for...But how much will this cost you? Don't expect flea motel rates.

Mustn’t Keep the Client Waiting

2014-11-04T14:13:00-05:00

One of my more bizarre travel experiences involved a client in China, who was very excited about our work. [...] By the time we landed, I’d completed the first pass at a design for a three-story villa to be built atop his high-rise. Good thing I did. When I landed, I was whisked directly to a dinner, where I had to present the ideas I’d developed on the plane. By that time I’d been up for nearly two days. [...] I wanted to die, but we did get the business.

Scott Lee, principal and president of global architectural firm SB Architects, shares some of his Frequent Flier stories.

Around the world in 80 minutes: Is a future of high-speed air travel coming soon?

2014-10-16T13:19:00-04:00

The reasons for designing and flying vehicles that are capable of global reach in the time taken to read the morning newspaper are technically attractive and militarily obvious. The economic and social justifications are perhaps less easily pinned down, but are nonetheless compelling. What will be the impact of treating Sydney as a commuter suburb for Beijing, or of being able to visit Antipodean gran for Sunday roast – with a serious prospect of being home in time for dinner and telly?