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Earlier this week, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) approved the estimated $2.1 billion LaGuardia AirTrain, an initiative to connect New York’s LaGuardia Airport with Manhattan. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will now be able to pursue federal funding for the project... View full entry
The Netherlands’ Schiphol Airport is to send grass cut on its approximately one thousand hectares to panel maker Ecor to make ceiling panels, partition walls, furniture and flooring for use at the airport and elsewhere. — Global Construction Review
Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport estimates that its annual amount of grass clippings will be enough raw material for partnering manufacturer ECOR to produce 100,000 square meters (1.8 million square feet) of panels. "Before starting large-scale production, the panels were extensively tested for... View full entry
"A better way to LGA" is further crystalizing with a nod from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Yesterday, the FAA released its Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), a document supporting the AirTrain LGA, a $2 billion, 1.5-mile transit link that would connect LaGuardia Airport with public transit." — Urbanize NYC
The FAA should release a “Record of Decision” later this spring, at which point construction on the AirTrain can begin. The initial stages of construction, including on-airport utility work and foundations for the AirTrain guideway and station, are slated to start in June 2021. View full entry
The World Monuments Fund (WMF) has called on the Peruvian government to halt the next phase of construction of an airport outside the Andean town of Chinchero and conduct a heritage impact assessment to prevent irreversible damage to treasured Incan sites.
The WMF designated the Sacred Valley of the Incas, which stretches from the city of Cusco to Machu Picchu, the crown jewel of Inca heritage, a 2020 World Monuments Watch site.
— The Art Newspaper
Previously: Archaeologists protest new international airport near Machu Picchu View full entry
One of the UK’s most famous architects has withdrawn from an environmental coalition in a dispute about the destructive role of aviation in the escalating climate crisis. [...]
The decision follows a row over Foster and Partners’ work on airports around the world – seen by critics as incompatible with tackling the climate and ecological emergency.
— The Guardian
Airport designs have been key projects in Foster + Partners' portfolio for years, with prominent recent commissions and competition entries in Saudi Arabia, Marseille, Chicago, Mexico City, and Beijing. Following Foster's decision to withdraw from his initial commitment, Architects Declare issued... View full entry
Nine years late and $4 billion over budget, the airport is already outdated. Repeated blunders dented the image of German efficiency, but the “poor but sexy” capital has long been a bit different. [...]
Under construction for 14 years, the airport is nine years past its original opening date and more than $4 billion over budget. Every month, it costs several million dollars just to keep the unused airport running.
— The New York Times
Katrin Bennhold, The New York Times’s Berlin bureau chief, takes a look back at the unbelievable saga of the long-awaited and — nine years behind schedule — now finally opened Berlin-Brandenburg Willy Brandt Airport. "The foundations of the terminal were already laid when it emerged... View full entry
Construction could begin by the end of 2021 on the initial phases of an expansion project which could bring new passenger gates to Los Angeles International Airport.
The LAX Airfield and Terminal Modernization Project, according to an environmental study published on October 29 by Los Angeles World Airports, calls for an extension of Terminal 1 onto an adjoining surface parking lot.
— Urbanize Los Angeles
Los Angeles International Airport, the world's fourth busiest airport during pre-pandemic levels, has released more details on its ambitious expansion goals. In March of 2019, LAX already started work on its $4.9bn Automated People Mover system. View full entry
The winners of the 2020 Fentress Global Challenge, an annual global student design competition launched in 2011 by Fentress Architects, have been announced. This year's competition challenge students to reimagine airport mobility in the year 2100. Over 100 projects were submitted. The first-place... View full entry
Foster + Partners has been selected by AMAALA, the "ultra-luxury" destination located along Saudi Arabia's northwestern coast, to design a new international airport. Consisting of the terminal and control tower, the design concept builds on the idea of a mirage in the middle of the desert. It's... View full entry
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 Guardian
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... View full entry
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... View full entry
Located in a region with the fastest growing demand for international travel, an expansion for the congested Beijing Daxing International Airport was much needed. Zaha Hadid Architects designed the newly inaugurated airport to meet the needs of the city's booming population and to be adaptable for... View full entry
Earlier this month, the Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport announced that it had hit a much-anticipated milestone in becoming the first airfield in the United States powered by 100% solar energy.
The end result of an ambitious project that started seven years ago, the airport's 2.64-megawatt solar farm was completed with about $5 million of funding from the Federal Aviation Administration.
— Forbes
The Autorité Environnementale (AE) has issued a statement saying a future scenarios study by the airport had underestimated the project’s environmental impact and overestimated its economic benefits. The new Terminal 1 extension is scheduled to open at the start of 2023 [...] However, it appears those plans clash with France’s new target to be carbon neutral by 2050, prompting the environmental agency to demand clarification. — Architects Journal UK
In 2017, Foster + Partners' competition submission beat a proposal by Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners for the opportunity to design the new extension to Marseille Provence Airport in France. More recently, France's environmental agency has raised questions concerning the project... View full entry
[...] the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is issuing a Request for Information for the design and development of JFK Central, an approximately 14-acre, mixed-use space at the epicenter of the redeveloped John F. Kennedy International Airport. This new site offers a blank canvas to create a centrally-located commercial and recreational public space to serve today's travelers and employees, and capitalizes on the broader transformation of JFK currently underway. — Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
"Airports are the front door to New York which is why it is so important that we transform JFK Airport into an innovative, modern, and accommodating space for domestic and international travelers," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in his announcement of the Request for Information for JFK... View full entry
