CHINA. Groupe ADP company ADP Ingénierie has completed the final design elements for the new Beijing Daxing International Airport, which is scheduled to open in late September.
Located at Daxing, 60 km south of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, the new airport will eventually have seven runways and over 100 million passengers passing through it every year, making it one of the world largest. It will house a 700,000 sq m surface area and a five km-long façade. Terminal 1 will have an annual capacity of 45 million passengers upon opening, which will later be expanded to 72 million passengers.
As reported, China Duty Free Group (CDFG) has signed an exclusive ten-year duty free retail contract for the new and much-anticipated airport. As revealed by The Moodie Davitt Report, CDFG was officially confirmed on 13 March as the dual winner of the airport’s two ten-year duty free concessions for liquor, tobacco and food/confectionery; and beauty and fashion.
ADP Ingénierie saluted in particular the “human approach” to the consumer experience that awaits, which “places the passenger at the centre of attention with a good and enjoyable experience”. It said: “Once inside, travellers can easily and intuitively find their way in the terminal. The openness of the central space allows the passenger to grasp all the terminal parts and functions, reducing the stress factor linked to the unknown. The feeling of well-being is reinforced by the architecture, which enhances the sense of movement within the terminal.
“Both modern and respectful to the cultural environment, the terminal is inspired by Chinese traditions and symbols, while giving them a contemporary touch. The new airport is a unique chance to integrate sustainable development to the heart of design.
“The goal is clear: to build an iconic airport with a new philosophy regarding environment management, climate protection and sustainable exploitation, in line with its low carbon airport positioning. The new Beijing Airport will aspire to become Asia’s leading green hub.”
ADP Ingénierie’s concept stacks the international and domestic levels vertically instead of spreading them out horizontally. This innovation led to the design of a compact terminal with a single centre for boarding pier control, positioned as stars around the building.
The centralised single-terminal concept, said ADP Ingénierie, will be “efficient and economical to operate [and offer an] enhanced passenger experience from the many services provided including shopping areas and inter-modal ground transport.”
With the compact design, the distance between the terminal centre and the farthest boarding gate is a maximum 600m, well under Asian and European terminals with similar capacity, noted the group. “Passengers can easily find their way within the open interior layout, gravitating naturally to the grand skylight central area where shops and services are located, and then walking straight ahead to their gate.”
ADP Ingénierie CEO Gratien Maire said: “ADP Ingénierie has been working for more than 25 years in China and the Daxing Airport’s Terminal 1 is one of our major achievements, in terms of architectural design. For the future, ADP Ingénierie and Groupe ADP plan to strengthen their footprint in China along the value chain, by looking at opportunities in massive building projects in order to meet future traffic growth.”
Background
On 12 September 2014, ADP Ingénierie won an international competition led by Beijing New Airport Construction Headquarters (BNAH) for the Architectural Schematic design of Terminal 1 at the new greenfield airport.
ADP Ingénierie finalised the design with the support of Zaha Hadid Architects and a team managed by BNAH. ADP Ingénierie also cooperated with the Beijing Institute for Architectural Design (BIAD) during the design development phase.
