"9 Amazing New Airports" is the headline on a story on msn.travel. The story itself proceeds to name 10 fabulous new structures. I guess the headline writers can't count very well, but the list is interesting. Indeed, nine of the 10 that writer Harriet Baskas selected, while amazing and dramatic, aren't entire airports but rather individual new terminals at existing airports. (The exception is Branson, MO's new airport, opening next year.)
Perhaps I'm splitting hairs when I should simply be grateful that there are inspiring spaces that we pass through by the millions every year en route to or from our aircraft -- or while we wait in security lines, wait for our flights to board or wait for our luggage. Of course, the waiting doesn't usually take place in the sublime soaring spaces that are the best parts of the terminals that Baskas identified. The website showcases them in a slide show. More likely, we're in snaking security lines or sitting in crowded departure lounges. (Baskas does include useful information on amenities that help us pass the time.)
The first architecturally significant terminal that entered my consciousness was the Eero Saarinen-design TWA Flight Center (top photo, right) at New York's Idlewild Airport (now JFK International Airport). Inspired by the wings of a bird in flight, the terminal seemed large and futuristic when it opened in 1962. It was a time when air travel was a glamorous adventure, and Saarinen's grounded concrete bird conveyed that feeling.
The last time I went inside the terminal was in the waning days of TWA. I was changing planes at JFK, checked in my bags for an international flight and with time to spare, walked back to TWA and wandered in. Once a busy and glamorous space, the terminal had become shabby with security screening facilities cluttering the middle of the space. After TWA went out of business, the terminal was threatened with demolition. Fortunately, it was saved, and has now been creatively incorporated into fast-growing JetBlue's new terminal (bottom photo), scheduled to open next month.
Of Baskas' list of beauties, three terminals (Changi, Heathrow, Beijing) opened in the first three months of 2008, and four have opened or should be opening during the last three months of the year. Here are her choices:
- Heathrow Airport's (LHR) Terminal 5, which stumbled into operation in March 2008
- Beijing Capital International Airport's (PEK) Terminal 3, also opened around the same time
- Singapore Changi Airport's (SIN) Terminal 3
- John F. Kennedy International Airport's (JFK) American Airlines Terminal, which opened in 2007
- JFK's Terminal 5 (Jet Blue), scheduled to open on October 22
- Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport's (DTW) North Terminal, which just opened last week
- Raleigh-Durham International Airport's (RDU) Terminal 2, scheduled to open October 26
- Indianapolis International Airport's (IND) new terminal, scheduled to open November 11
- Branson Airport (BBG), scheduled to open in May 2009
- Madrid Barajas Airport's (MAD) two-year-old Terminal 4
Hiç yorum yok:
Yorum Gönder