This studio will question this building typology – airports – as an urban hub, its validity, problems and potentials. What is the relationship between an airport and its surrounding contextual fabric? Is / can an airport be an incubator of urban transformation? Shall we insert an airport at the periphery of a ‘city’ to stimulate urban growth / sprawl or does a ‘city’ airport provides us with more opportunities to revitalise / gentrify an old town? On top of commercialism, can we use more of an airport to benefit from public / civic space, as for example, an art village, a central park, or a prison? What are the interdependencies of an airport to its ‘city’? Where does the massive engineering lie in the architecture in the urbanism of / for / from / within an airport?
The final goal of this studio is to reassess, rethink and redefine such architecture typology and urban paradigms, and speculate on a future that each designed airport will be.
Students went on site visits to three different countries: Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar. Findings from three different sites are discussed at subsequent lessons and form the basis for their future design iterations.
