A joint venture featuring Foster + Partners has won the design contract for Mexico City’s new 555,000sq m airport – one of the world’s largest.

 

The grand announcement was made earlier this week by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto alongside the Governor of the State of Mexico, government ministers, the Mayor of Mexico City, Lord Norman Foster and Fernando Romero.

 

The president announced that the contract has been awarded to a new joint venture collaboration between Foster + Partners, FR-EE (Fernando Romero Enterprise) and NACO (Netherlands Airport Consultants).

 

The airport has been conceived by Foster + Partners’ engineering team and it is claimed that the project ‘revolutionises airport design’, with the entire terminal enclosed within a continuous lightweight grid shell, ‘embracing walls and roof in a single, flowing form, evocative of flight’.

 

‘MOST SUSTAINABLE AIRPORT…’

Describing the new concept, Foster + Partners said: “Designed to be the world’s most sustainable airport, the compact single terminal uses less materials and energy than a cluster of buildings. The design ensures short walking distances and few level changes, it is easy to navigate, and passengers will not have to use internal trains or underground tunnels – it is a celebration of space and light.

 

“Flexible in operation, its design anticipates the predicted increase in passenger numbers to 2028 and beyond, and its development will be the catalyst for the regeneration of the surrounding area. The airport is planned on a new site with three runways, and an expansion plan up to 2062 with an eventual six runways.

 

 

Another rendering of the new airport from Foster + Partners.

 

 

“With spans in excess of 100 metres, three times the span of a conventional airport, it has a monumental scale inspired by Mexican architecture and symbolism. The maximum span internally is 170 metres.

 

“The lightweight glass and steel structure and soaring vaulted roof are designed for Mexico City’s challenging soil conditions. Its unique pre-fabricated system can be constructed rapidly, without the need for scaffolding – the airport will be a showcase for Mexican innovation, built by Mexican contractors and engineers.”

 

A NEW LANDMARK AIRPORT?

The design company adds that the entire building will be serviced from beneath, freeing the roof of ducts and pipes and ‘revealing the environmental skin’. It adds that the ‘hardworking structure’ will harness the power of the sun, collect rainwater, provide shading and direct daylight and enable views – ‘all while achieving a high performance envelope that meets high thermal and acoustic standards’.

 

Commenting on the project which is one of several landmark airports designed by Norman Foster, including Hong Kong, Beijing, London Stansted and more, Lord Foster said: “Stansted Airport’s reinvention of the conventional terminal in the 1990s was emulated worldwide – this breaks with that model for the first time. It pioneers a new concept for a large-span, single airport enclosure, which will achieve new levels of efficiency and flexibility – and it will be beautiful.”

TOP IMAGE: An artist’s impression of the new airport that has been designed by Lord Norman Foster.

 

[A film produced by Foster + Partners featuring Norman Foster’s commentary on the new airport design can be found by clicking here: http://www.fosterandpartners.com/practice-data/videos/#showBy=list&vid=105124073]