Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport (BCIA) will open this week, six months ahead of the start of the 2008 Olympic Games. The addition of Terminal 3 and a third runway will provide what is already China’s busiest airport with the capacity to support the Games and allow the airport to cater for up to 90 million passengers per year by 2012.
The iconic terminal building, for which Arup (as part of the NFA JV design team that won the original competition) has provided multidisciplinary engineering and specialist design services, has been designed to be one of the most modern and passenger friendly super-hub facilities in the world with clear and intuitive layouts, minimal changes of level and fast transfer times.
Terminal 3 will be one of the world’s more environmentally sustainable airport terminal buildings and has been designed to respond to Beijing’s cold winters, hot summers, short autumn and spring seasons. As a result the Terminal’s roof incorporates south-east orientated skylights which enable the sun to warm the building on winter mornings and make the most of available daylight during normal operational times. This produces dramatic reductions in the energy required for both heating and cooling resulting in a refined and energy efficient design.
It has taken just under four years from the start of construction work on the building to this week’s opening. This has been achieved by effective project management by the BCIA team, excellent cross-cultural collaboration between the European and Chinese designers and an entirely modular design strategy.
“As well as being another new design icon for the city of Beijing along with the National Stadium, the National Aquatics Centre and the CCTV Headquarters, this new terminal will set global standards for sustainability, operational efficiency and positive passenger experience,” says Michael Kwok, Arup’s Project Director for Terminal 3.
“The effort put in by the client, the local and international designers and the numerous contractors and suppliers bears testament to the common goal of achieving a world class facility for China and for the 2008 Olympic Games.” he adds.
The increased capacity of BCIA, coupled with the continued growth in passenger numbers (brought about by the Olympics and China’s continued growth on the global market), will bring BCIA into the top five airports globally for total passenger numbers, along side the likes of London Heathrow UK (Europe’s busiest airport), Atlanta Georgia USA (the World’s busiest airport), Chicago O’Hare USA and Tokyo Haneda Japan (Asia’s busiest airport).
Flights start operating from the new terminal on Friday 29th February.