New airport terminal will focus on passenger experience, says architect
CNA
October 31, 2015, 12:22 am TWN
TAIPEI -- The design of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport's third terminal will focus on creating a unique passenger experience, the winning architect said Friday after learning his design had been selected for the project.
The concept behind the design will be to use every corner of the Terminal 3 complex, which will include a multi-function building that will mainly accommodate retailers and entertainment providers, said project architect Andrew Tyley.
There will also be a plaza that connects the terminal and the multi-function building so a spacious area will be available for public use, Tyley said of the 640,000-square meter project, which is scheduled to be completed in 2020.
"We have created an urban place in a public realm," said Tyley, who is with the British architectural firm Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners.
The third terminal itself will also take an unconventional approach by integrating the arrival area into the much-larger departure area so that all passengers can fully appreciate the building, he said.
The travel experiences of arriving passengers are often overlooked, Tyley said, explaining that arrival areas are roughly only one-fourth the size of departure areas at major airports across the world and are often located at lower levels, preventing travelers from having a fuller view of the terminal.
In his project, however, the arrival level is placed above the departure level and designed like a balcony so that all passengers could appreciate the ceiling that will be decorated with pedal installations, Tyley said.
Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners defeated more than 300 design companies from 13 countries and regions to win the NT$74.6 billion (US$2.29 billion) project, because of what the jury described as the bid's innovative planning and highly efficient traffic flow design.
The airport, meanwhile, said it plans to introduce several new procedures that are likely to expand its capacity to 45 million passengers per year by 2018 so that it can deal with an estimated 10 percent annual growth in passenger traffic.
Fei Hourng-jiun, chief executive officer of Taoyuan Airport Corp., said the focus will be mainly on improving boarding efficiency by installing more self-service facilities for passenger check-in processing and bag drops.
For example, up to 10 bag drop kiosks could be installed at Taipei Main Station when the new MRT line between Taipei and the Taoyuan airport opens next March, he said.
That would allow passengers to check their luggage even before they arrive at the airport, and has the potential to increase the airport's annual capacity by 1 million passengers, Fei said.
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