Taipei Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 3 Contract Awarded

By Johny Clark
http://thedesignair.net/

British architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) have won a competition to design the new Terminal 3 building at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. The scheme will deliver a new terminal building, boarding gates, concourses and a multi-function building, along with transport infrastructure. The practice, working alongside Taiwan engineering firm CECI, saw off competition from Foster + Partners and UN Studio to win the project. The jury said that it had been impressed with the ‘innovative planning and design’ submitted by RSHP.




Bringing the lessons learned from the last two projects in both Madrid Barajas Terminal 4 and Heathrow Terminal 5, RSHP created a “unique, dynamic and fluid architecture that allows for easy adaption and future transformation of airport functions without compromising the passenger experience or the architectural integrity.”

The beautiful and elegant design is inspired by Taiwan’s sweeping landscapes, the seas surrounding it, its rhythms of nature and life to create a series of unique interior places designed for their purpose and protected beneath an elegant hard shell roof. Within, a soft inner surface is malleable and dynamic to celebrate and form the ever changing spaces below. The nature of the interior spaces whether grand, intimate, uniform or dramatic and the extent of those spaces too can be changed.

The new terminal’s rational plan arrangement is forecast to deliver minimum connection times of just 40 minutes, impressive for such a large structure, and easily the best in the region, with simple way-finding and airside connectivity. Ivan Harbour, Partner, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners said “We are delighted to have won the competition for the Third terminal at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.”

“We have worked in Taiwan for 15 years and have made many friends during that time. This competition is the product of a successful international joint venture with those colleagues. Our proposal is focussed on a passenger’s experience with a deliberate strategy to absorb constant future change, whilst always retaining the integrity of its unique design. The terminal will be designed to meet the highest sustainability criteria; holistic engineering and architecture.”

Matching a similar layout to Terminals 1 and 2, the new space will fit perfectly into the current footprint of the airport. “We have created a rationally planned and easy to use airport that will be characterised by a flowing squence of beautifully lit, acoustically comfortable and well-proportioned spaces. It will be an airport where the drama of the spatial experience is shared by all, at all times.” Upon completion in 2020 the new terminal will be able to host 45 million passengers a year.

Taipei Taoyuan International Airport Terminal 3 Contract Awarded | TheDesignAir