Architecture – Airport Benchmarking

Inside China’s New $18 Billion Dollar Airport

Karima Kouidri — Sun, 13 Feb 2022 10:49:29 +0000

Beijing Daxing International Airport is ready for takeoff

Karima Kouidri — Sun, 29 Sep 2019 12:00:51 +0000

Passenger Announcement! #BeijingDaxingInternationalAirport is ready for takeoff. Please take a few moments to watch our video on the world’s largest single terminal airport. Now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight. Thank you #DaxingAirport xhne.ws/GbhiA

Building China’s $12BN Mega Airport | The B1M

Karima Kouidri — Sun, 29 Sep 2019 11:59:03 +0000

No stranger to record-breaking projects, China has now completed one of the largest airports ever conceived – the USD $12BN Daxing International in Beijing. For more by The B1M subscribe now: http://ow.ly/GxW7y

Daxing Airport, billed as world’s most expensive and technologically-advanced terminal, opens in Beijing

Karima Kouidri — Thu, 26 Sep 2019 12:33:40 +0000

00:06Rewind 10 Seconds00:1900:23SettingsFullscreenVideo: China’s Beijing-Daxing Airport (ABC News)

It is billed as the world’s most expensive airport and, at 1 million square metres, as the largest single terminal building: welcome to Beijing’s newest international airport.

The Beijing Daxing International Airport was inaugurated by Chinese President Xi Jinping on Wednesday, ahead of the Communist Party’s 70th anniversary in power.

Built in less than five years at a cost of 120 billion yuan ($25 billion), the airport is roughly the size of 100 football fields.

The airline’s first commercial flight, a China Southern Airlines plane bound for the southern province of Guangdong, took off on Wednesday afternoon, state broadcaster CCTV reported. Six more flights took off later for Shanghai and other destinations.

The main Beijing airport, located in the city’s north-east, is the world’s second-busiest after Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport in the US state of Georgia, and is nearing capacity.

Star-shaped airport showcases China’s prowess and culture

President Xi Jinping told Chinese state media Xinhua that the airport showed China’s prowess in engineering constructions.

The vast, star-shaped airport is about 45 kilometres south of downtown Beijing. It has four runways, with plans for as many as three more.

Shaped like a phoenix — though to some observers it is more reminiscent of a starfish — the airport was designed by famed Iraqi-born architect Zaha Hadid. Photo: The departure lobby, where facial recognition technology is used to make check-ins faster and easier. (AP: Naohiko Hatta)

Zaha Hadid Architects London associate director Cristiano Ceccato said the project design itself embraced the special characteristics of China in terms of building airports.

“The Beijing Daxing International Airport is quite unique. It combines best practices of airport design and international standards, together with very advanced knowledge in China about designing and building airports in China,” Mr Ceccato said.

“In that sense, it’s different from other airports around the world in that it embraces very specific technologies, construction methods and planning approaches that are particular to China itself.”

He said the main terminal building also reflected Chinese culture.

“The project itself is very, very centralised,” Mr Ceccato said.

“It’s shaped like a hand, meaning that you have a palm, and you have radiant fingers, and that means all the processing happens in the palm and then the distance to the aircraft in the fingers is actually not very long.

“So it’s a very human, very walkable terminal. Even though it is very large, it is something that still remains very accessible to the individual person, and also, very pleasant to traverse.”

Mr Ceccato said it reflected the unique Chinese culture and was drawn from courtyard houses, vistas, morphology of Chinese buildings and made to uniquely suit the role.

Busiest airport in the world

China Southern Airlines and China Eastern Airlines will be the main domestic carriers at Daxing.

About 50 foreign airlines, including British Airways and Finnair, plan to move all or part of their operations in the next few quarters.

When running at full capacity, the airport is expected to become one of the busiest in the world.

It is expected to handle up to 72 million passengers a year by 2025, eventually reaching 100 million — with 620,000 take-offs and landings. Photo: The vast, star-shaped airport, seen here from above, has four runways. (AP: Mark Schiefelbein)

But despite its size, its builders say travellers will need to walk no more than 600 meters to reach any boarding gate.

It only takes a passenger eight minutes to walk from the centre of the terminal building to the furthest departure gate.

Zeng Qingwei, a passenger taking China Eastern Airlines’ first flight at the new airport, told Xinhua it took him one minute to complete the check-in process with baggage.

“The automated check-in with facial recognition is very convenient,” Mr Zeng said.

Three urban rail lines and several expressways will connect the 5G-covered airport terminal with the city centre, Xiongan New Area and Beijing’s surrounding areas.

The capital has a third airport, Nanyuan, for domestic flights, but the Government says that will close once Daxing is in operation.

ABC/wires

source : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-09-26/daxing-airport-opens-in-beijing/11550116

Watch video : https://www.facebook.com/franceinfo/videos/3011098509114249/UzpfSTEwMjU4ODkwNjU6Vks6MzYyODE1MjM3Mzg3NzA2Ng/ on facebook

Netherlands Will be the First to Build a Circular Runway for Commercial Jets and Drones

Karima Kouidri — Thu, 01 Feb 2018 12:12:38 +0000

The engineer who suggested the idea of “circular runways” to the aviation sector now wants to use the same concept for drones.

In 2016, there were about 3.8 billion air passengers. Surprisingly, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) estimates this number will nearly double (7.2 billion) by 2035.

Basically, this passenger demand means more flights that will add to the already existing pressure of airport congestion. To accommodate the rising flight demand, airports can’t just keep expanding their runway capacities forever.

But what about circular or “endless” runways? Believe it or not, this futuristic concept is being explored as a potential long-term solution to air traffic population.

If it works on a big scale, then it stands to reason that it will work on a small scale. Hence now circular runways being suggested as a way to handle fleets of delivery drones.

A Runway That Never Ends

Many aspects of air travel have drastically changed over the 20^th century, from aircraft to robot guides to biometric identification. Airports, however, have remained pretty much the same.

Do airport runways should always be a straight line? According to European engineers, they don’t necessarily have to be.

Since 2012, the Aerospace Center of the Netherlands (NLR) has been working on the Endless Runway project, the brainchild of Dutch engineer Henk Hesselink.

The concept of circular runways could potentially increase the capacity of airports, dissipate noise pollution evenly, and put an end to the problem of headwinds.

Built as a 3km wide circle around a terminal, circular runways have no beginning or end. This would allow for a high volume of traffic as several takeoffs and landings could take place simultaneously.

In addition, pilots won’t have to navigate through crosswind no matter its direction.

Those aren’t the only benefits to the circular runway design. In fact, this project could help eliminate air traffic noise from certain parts of the surrounding area. Or, if the airport is surrounded by residential areas, the air traffic controllers could balance the amount of noise evenly. This would be accomplished by having aircraft approach the runway from a specified direction, as all 360 degrees of the approach are available.

The physics seem to agree as well. Due to the slight turn required to land on a circular runway, the centrifugal forces will cause the plane to naturally fly slower. What’s more, the plane will automatically be pulled toward the center of the circle. Hesselink says “Pilots and passengers will not feel like they are in a rollercoaster.”

According to Hesselink’s team, one circular runway can handle the traffic of 4 regular straight runways.

To execute the Endless Runway project, NLR has partnered with four other European research centers. These centers have homes in Germany, France, Poland, and Spain.

Circular Runways for Delivery Drones

Every year, drones are gaining in autonomy and versatility. In the coming years, delivery drones are poised to become commonplace. When that comes to be, would drones use the already constrained airports (and follow severe aviation guidelines), or will there be a need for new infrastructure?

This issue is even more challenging when it comes to the logistics of big drones.

We don’t know if Amazon, in its ongoing drone patents frenzy, has thought about this looming logistical problem.

While the concept of circular runways has proven to be divisive among experts in the aviation industry, Henk Hesselink is now suggesting using it for delivery drones.

According to the BBC, Hesselink wants to scale back his endless runway design for UAVs and has already taken a concrete step toward that goal.

In collaboration with Valkenburg airport in the Netherlands, Hesselink will build a circular test runway for drones in a site near The Hague out of a decommissioned naval base.

Such a design for a drone airport would make efficient use of space as “a 300kg unmanned aircraft would only require a runway diameter of 600m.” Hesselink is currently looking for financial backers to help him bring his idea to fruition.

Be sure to check out this BBC podcast to hear the latest update from Hesselink.

Do you see any issues with this new circular runway design? Or could it be the solution to the growing problem of congestion in modern aviation?

source : https://tinyurl.com/ybkflwso

Digital identity for secure and seamless travel

Karima Kouidri — Mon, 29 Jan 2018 18:57:20 +0000

The Known Traveller: Unlocking the potential of digital identity for secure and seamless travel

Is a Known Traveller Digital Identity the disruptive innovation the global travel security ecosystem needs?

The cross-border movement of legitimate travellers has for decades enabled and sustained international trade, tourism-driven economic growth and increased tolerance across cultural and social divides. However, the travel system is under pressure from the growing number of travellers, infrastructure capacity limits and ever-increasing risk and security requirements. In particular, efforts to address increasing cyber and physical risks to national security can have adverse effects on the benefits of international travel.

This report, co-published by the World Economic Forum and Accenture, highlights the opportunities made possible through advances in emerging technologies like biometrics, cryptography and distributed ledgers to advance security capabilities of industry and governmental agencies while improving passenger facilitation in international travel. Importantly, it recommends a paradigm shift to an interoperable digital identity system that prioritises traveller-centricity, upholds privacy by design, and enables the trustful cooperation between international public and private sector partners required for ensuring the safe and secure movement of people across borders.

Download PDF here : https://tinyurl.com/y776vp38

Nuevo Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de Mexico

Karima Kouidri — Thu, 28 Dec 2017 19:10:30 +0000

For Mexico City’s New International Airport (Nuevo Aeropuerto Internacional de la Ciudad de Mexico – NAICM),

Foster + Partners and FR-EE had one core goal in mind: Put people first. At 470,000 square meters, it will be one of the world’s largest airports and its flowing form is inspired by flight. But its primary design focus is the passenger experience. With an open air concept, travelers will be able to see the gates and where they are heading in a space full of daylight. The design also anticipates the predicted increase in passenger numbers by 2028 and beyond, along with an expansion plan through 2062 for an eventual six runways. With the ambitious sustainability and terminal design goals, BIM became crucial to making it happen. The sharing of the models from the very early stages made it possible for all teams to access updated information, enabling a smooth transition from the concept stage to a more detailed stage of the design as well as construction.

İstanbul New Airport – The Place Where Dreams Come True

Karima Kouidri — Fri, 22 Dec 2017 09:25:24 +0000

Everything you have been wondering about İstanbul New Airport,

which will open its gates in 2018, is in the video! Now keep your desks straight and your screens on for the take-off.

New Muscat International Airport Walkthrough

Karima Kouidri — Sat, 18 Nov 2017 13:13:56 +0000

The new Muscat International Airport

3D printed terrazzo floors for amsterdam’s shiphol airport

Karima Kouidri — Tue, 24 Oct 2017 09:08:52 +0000

3D printed terrazzo floors for amsterdam’s shiphol airport by aectual and DUS architects.

showcasing at dutch design week 2017, aectual uses 3D printing technologies to fabricate completely customizable and sustainable floors. the bespoke designs use recycled bio-plastic material to create the frameworks and then a mixture of recycled granite or marble to fill in the remaining spaces. suitable for projects of all sizes, the system has already been used to craft the bespoke floor at loft’s flagship store in tokyo, japan, and currently installing its latest one at amsterdam’s schiphol airport in november 2017.

3D printed floors for amsterdam’s shiphol airport by aectual

all images courtesy of aectual

officially launching their product at dutch design week 2017, aectual employ huge robots, with six-axis movement, to print as they move from side to side on rails. this allows them to fabricate the framework of the designs from small to large scale sizes, all at just a few centimeters in height. the constructions are then moved onsite where terrazzo material – the granite or marble composite – is filled into the empty spaces and then polished off. the results are tailor-made floors that not only display the personalities of the client, but also their story and further bespoke branding.

with the mission to bring tailor-made architecture to the masses, the 3D printing technology was developed in-house by aectual and will be used to 3D print the DUS architects design at the shiphol airport.

‘the extruder is mounted on a robot arm, itself mounted on a track. the maximum print areas of the several printers available are 2x2x4 meters, 8x2x2m or 2x2x2m. the 3D printer can deposit between 1 – 15 kg/hr of material. using an automated material feeding system, the printer can run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.‘ says hans vermeulen, CEO of aectual.

source : https://tinyurl.com/yak9oksw