Fentress Architects is proud to announce the winners of the 2016 Fentress Global Challenge, the fifth edition of its international student competition representing the firm’s commitment to the advancement of innovative design in public architecture. This year’s challenge was to envision “The Airport of the Future.” Exceeding 600 registrations, the award drew students from over 50 countries.
FIRST PLACE – “Airport Under the Forest Park,” Shanghai, China
Author: Xingqiao Li, Fang Yu, Que Wang (Xi’an University of Architecture and Technology)
The winning team consists of three members: Xingqiao Li, 30 years old, who works at the Institute of Shanghai Architectural Design and Research; Fang Yu, 31 years old, and Que Wang, 30 years old, who work in the China Architectural Design group.
Project Description: “With the rapid development and urbanization of the planet, reinforced concrete and other harsh materials are taking over our landscapes and devouring the green lifeline of cities the world over.
Our design departs from the urban forest as the breakthrough point from which to design the airport with an environmental perspective.
Using the underground space to realize the function of the layered design, we introduce mechanical technologies such as aircraft elevators, mechanical tracks, and booster runways.
We also design central lighting barrels to bring underground climactic elements and sunshine to improve the passenger experience.”
SECOND PLACE: “Hong Kong Aerocenosis,” Hong Kong
Anna Andronova (Kazan State University of Architecture and Engineering)
Project Description: “Life is motion. Transportation defines a city, its scale and structure, guides its inner rhythm as well as global economic prosperity. Today, our world faces dramatic transportation changes.
New types of vehicles appear, introducing new approaches to delivering, travelling and commuting: quadrocopters, drones, hoverbikes, magnet levitation rails or hyperloops. In order to organize an efficient transportation system in the perpetual motion age, a totally different, inside-out infrastructure must be built. It is aerocenosis – a hybrid, planned ecosystem of biotic and abiotic species coexisting in the sky.
There is no particular airport, but rather ubiquitous transportation system, like “blood vessels”, which includes habitat, trading, production and recreation hubs. Citizens enjoy flat-to-flat flights and instant delivery services while mobile devices literally convert all infrastructures in a pocket.
If such urban aerial infrastructure ever appears, it will occur in Hong Kong, a “city without ground” with its extreme population density and high-rise landscape, rich topography and giant tropical forests, technological innovations potential and total economic dependence on trade routes.”
Drone highway twists through Hong Kong from current Chek Lap Kok to former Kai Tak Airport, connecting its key points not only physically, but also symbolically.
THIRD PLACE: “Caravanserai,” Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Rafat Jahandideh (Manchester School of Architecture)
Project Description: “Dubai’s Caravanserai in the Arabian Gulf seeks to provide a major international transport hub connecting the region to the rest of the world. It builds on the prospects of a modern, internationally integrated country while diversifying the economic output of the region and promoting its long-term sustainable growth.
Elaborating on its core concept of a merged sea-and-airport, Caravanserai provides a coherent and efficient convergence of both international and regional transport systems. The massing’s broad form follows the coastline and stretches out along the peninsula. Inside, the multi-nucleated terminal clusters reduce fatigue, via independent operation of all stages of passenger processing.
Their layout is inspired by the architecture of the Middle Eastern ‘Caravanserai’, whose traditional form incorporated a courtyard space kept cool with a pool of water at its center, and tall walls around the perimeter to contain the heavier, cooler air.
Each terminal cluster features six windcatchers channeling warm dry air downwards over an underground network of canals, which provide a transport route through the building.
The cooled and humidified air is delivered to the terminal clusters and the ‘seawater greenhouses’ that interconnect them – nurseries where date palms are nurtured before replanting to enrich and enhance the surrounding landscape.”
Source and imge Courtesy of Fentress Architects.