Beijing Daxing International Airport has been awarded the “World Winner – Airports” title at the Prix Versailles Awards 2020.
The awards ceremony, organized in association with UNESCO and the International Union of Architects, celebrated “architecture and design that promotes ecological, societal, and cultural development.”
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The futuristic airport, designed by world-renowned firm Zaha Hadid Architects, is the world’s largest airport terminal — spanning a massive 700,000 square meters. It has been designed with the city’s ever-expanding transport network in mind.
46 kilometers south of Beijing, the airport has a 20-minute express train which takes people into the heart of the city. It also offers direct connections to the national high-speed rail network, allowing people to easily access nearby regions like Tianjin and Hebei province.
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The airport has paid homage to elements of traditional Chinese architecture by incorporating interconnected spaces organized around a central courtyard into its design. The design allows passengers to smoothly travel through the airport, minimizing confusion and time needed to get to departure gates — passengers can go from the check-in counter to any gate in less than eight minutes.
The interior of the airport is akin to an art installation. Incorporating the signature flowing lines of Zaha Hadid Architects, the terminal’s roof is vaulted and fitted with numerous skylights that fill it with natural light. The lines on the roof and the skylights also serve to intuitively guide passengers through the airport.
With a building this large, one might think that the carbon footprint would be huge, but the design of the building has made it extremely sustainable and energy saving. Photovoltaic panels were installed to generate 10MW of power and the airport has one of the world’s largest composite ground-source heat pump systems. On top of this, it has a rainwater collection and management system which is able to purify over 2.8 million cubic meters of water in new wetlands, lakes, and streams.
Cover photo: Boarding2Now
