INTERVIEW HELMUT JAHN - ArchIdea

AIRPORTS HAVE DEVELOPED INTO CITIES. In the olden days, people used to settle and build towns
near a ford in the river, a cross-roads or a harbour - places where they met and traded their goods.
Today’s airports provide a similar function. Particularly the large international ones are centres of
trade and entertainment. They’re complex and hybrid and, with their shops, cafés, restaurants, casinos,
stations, car parks and cinemas, are commercially attractive
AIRPORTS
to hotels and companies, which
cluster round them. New towns gradually develop near the ones they give access to and even start
to compete with them.
FOCUS ON INTERIORS:
SCHIPHOL AIRPORT
AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
The development of Schiphol Airport is an illustrative
example. The original terminal - plain, rectangular and
functional - was built in the 1960s, when 4 million passengers
used the airport each year. However, the rapid
increase in the number of passengers (from 8 million in
1971 to 42 million in 2004) forced the airport to regularly
expand and adjust its facilities to modern standards. One
recent project was the renovation of the original building
and the extension of Lounge 1. The architectural firms
Benthem Crouwel and NACO wanted to refer back to the
original functionality of the old building while allowing
room for commercial activities. Schiphol had presented the
concept for these activities: Run, Fun and Surprise. ‘Run’
provides the basic shopping essentials (liquor, cigarettes,
books and magazines), ‘Fun’ offers enjoyment (mainly
cafés and restaurants) and ‘Surprise’ holds just that for
passengers who are on their way to the plane (casino and
coffee corners).
Taking the view that Schiphol is in fact a city, the architects
opted for the introduction of such elements as the square
and the street. A street now runs from passport control
all the way to the piers, and widens halfway along to form
a square. Schiphol’s commercial concept fits in well: the
street is lined with shops, while the square has shops,
cafés and restaurants. The street looks austere, bright,
white and reassuring: you know that you can quickly and
easily reach the plane. The square, which is two stories
high, stands out markedly: light beams cleave the space
beneath the black steel ceiling and reflect off the tiny
pieces of mirror embedded in the black floor tiles. Four
little wooden ‘islands’ in the square are reserved for such
activities as catering, promotion, sales and entertainment.
One of them even has a pond. This set-up prevents the
square from getting clogged up with commercial objects.
Attention has also been given to the walls that articulate
the square. The architects strove for simplicity in order
to allow room for further commercial additions without
losing the visual coherence of the building. Two austere
walls accommodate a number of shops, while a glass wall
provides a view of the aeroplanes.
Thus, the function of the airport has changed drastiing that many a person still finds flying an exciting
cally. An airport’s major concern used to be the effi- experience - or even something that is impossible and
cient processing of passenger flows. The programme defies logic. The architectural design of an internation-
was clear: the airport was a machine that processed al airport, however, presents totally different chal-
passengers. Room for poetry, if any, could be found lenges. The commercial activities there add an extra
only in the design of the roof: the architecture of the dimension: efficient passenger and luggage handling
airport was mainly the architecture of the roof. The does not exactly go hand in hand with the realm of
best-known example is the TWA Terminal at John F. temptation and allure. The world of commerce wants
Kennedy Airport (New York). It was designed by the the passenger to forget about flying for a while and
Finnish architect Saarinen, who used the shape of the to indulge in what it has to offer. Constantly changing
wing as a metaphor for flying.
passenger flows are another complicating factor. In
Most small, provincial airports are still not very addition, future growth must be taken into account.
complex: the processing of passengers is their only
concern and their central focus is on functionality.
If a design were to be tailored only to the needs of
the moment, the airport would end up either too big
Architects: Benthem Crouwel NACO, Amsterdam
Photos: Jannes Linders
Sometimes, though, architects design the terminal or too small.
12 as a reassuring, even ritual escort to the plane, know-
13
Airports