Seasoned airport designers caution that, while these technologies rapidly evolve, “the story of the next 20 years is likely to be automation, biometrics, and AI, but no one really knows,” says Andrew Thomas, a partner at Grimshaw Architects in London. Thomas, who led his firm’s team in designing the recently opened 11 million-square-foot terminal at the Istanbul New Airport—said to be the world’s largest—recommends against designing tightly to current tech requirements. Instead, he advocates for “deep floor plates and a loose fit.”
Building in such flexibility undeniably makes sense, especially for a greenfield facility well outside the city center, like the Istanbul airport. But projects at urban airports with little wiggle room are trickier. Some, like the new Terminal B now under way at New York’s LaGuardia Airport (LGA), require an almost surgical approach. In order to keep the maximum number of gates operational during construction, the facility is being built in phases, “alongside, around, and over” the existing 1964 terminal that it is replacing, says Peter Ruggiero, design principal in the Chicago office of HOK. As part of the consortium chosen to design, build, and operate the terminal through 2050, HOK and WSP have developed a scheme that has a headhouse connected to a pair of gate-concourse buildings via pedestrian bridges. These span over the plane taxi lanes. So far, 16 of the planned 35 gates are open, with completion slated for 2022.
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