Urban Land has done a feature on the latest airport expansions:
Today’s airports have to juggle stringent post-9/11 security requirements and expanding numbers of passengers. In addition to meeting the functional requirements, however, they have become more like little cities, including retail, dining, cultural, and entertainment components. With the advent of mobile technology, they also function as de facto workplaces.
In contrast to the anonymous boxes of the past, new terminals are designed to incorporate or reflect aspects of their surroundings, conveying something of the local culture.
Here are some of them, including large ones like Beijing:
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Medium, like Montevideo:
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Small like Wellington:
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And then there’s this one:
Given the wilderness setting at Prince George Airport, it is not unusual for a bear to wander by on the other side of the runway from the terminal. In the renovation and expansion of the 1970s facility, McFarlane Green Biggar Architecture + Design of North Vancouver designed the new terminal to integrate views to the outdoors with a curtain wall that relies on a point-fixed glazing system, which prevents thermal bridging in the glass for added insulating power and provides for effective noise absorption.
Extensive use of wood—appropriate for the heavily forested region—includes maple panels, birch and maple benches, and Douglas fir ceiling planks. A large, skylit central atrium is shaded by a Douglas fir sunscreen.
More details on Prince George and other airports here.
