2011

1ST PLACE Oliver Andrew, London South Bank University, London, United Kingdom, Citizenship: English LDN DELTA AIRPORT

A delta of prefabricated mass-produced islands situated in the Thames Estuary up stream from London.  A vital new airport to ease the overcrowding of the surrounding London airports.  The Airport has no cars, No runways and no check in desks.  Its served by public transport only.  The flight details are interconnected with the individuals mobile phones allowing the user to know the departure time and assigned skygate.   

Vertical take off hypersonic jets capable of flying at the edge of space.  Lift off from purpose built landing pads.  The jets are integrated with the autonomous transpods taking the passengers from skygate to sky.  In one seat in an act of “podisation”. The airport uses tidal currents to create sustainable power for the whole airport in a process which uses “hydrogars”.  

2ND PLACE Marcin Sztyk University College London, London, United KingdomCitizenship: AmericanTHE AIRPORT OF THE FUTURE - LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

This proposal for the Airport of the Future is self-sustaining through the use of algae grown in nearby farms as a renewable resource. The architecture of the Airport of the Future is experiential as it intends to be a destination in itself. The future of airships and non-atmospheric flight intersects with runways, tarmacs, trains, highways and the conventional infrastructure of Los Angeles. The individual person can navigate through the immense scale of the Airport of the Future as it is designed to be a simple, self-similar system of arched terminals. The linear-axis of the airport’s design allows for vehicular or pedestrian access. Overall, the Airport of the Future has to embrace the past of commercial flying with new technological advances in flight to make flying enjoyable again.

3RD PLACE Alexander Nevarez Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, United States Citizenship: American POCKET AIRPORTS

Dreamers and innovators that look far beyond the present have always held the future in such high esteem. It is this optimism that propels ideas into the blue sky for the sake of imagining what is possible given the resources and technology.  Until recently suborbital flight could only be achieved by government space agencies. Virgin Galactic is soon to begin regular flights to space. The EADS promises the VoltAir, a hypersonic all electric airliner that could be flying within 25 years. If we could combine the capabilities these planes: hypersonic flight, electric propulsion, and add vertical take-off landing ability to create the ultimate airline passenger, how would airports adapt to this change?

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The entries were evaluated on five criteria—creative approach and presentation; response to site; sustainability and resiliency; functionality; and innovation and technology—by a a jury of renowned professionals in the field of aviation, which included:

G. Hardy Acree, Airport Director, Sacramento International Airport

Marvin Malecha, FAIA, Dean of the College of Design, North Carolina State University

Helen Norman, Editor, Passenger Terminal World Tibbie Dunbar, Executive Director, Architecture + Design Museum

James P. Cramer, Hon AIA, Hon IIDA, Cofounder & Chairman, Design Futures Council

Curtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, Principal-in-Charge of Design, Fentress Architects