The architecture of airport passenger terminals

Abstract

International airports no longer simply act as gateways. Airports are becoming destinations in their own right. This is how they market themselves and how they survive. According to Bernard Tschumi, "Airports no longer serve isolated functions: they are not unitary buildings. They now extend - and redefine - the metropolis. They explode boundaries and limits. They are also one of the fastest growing industries, attracting entrepreneurs of all sorts." Bernard Tschumi, Event Cities (Praxis), p 105. Airports now contain substantial shopping centres, hotels, offices, and centres for exhibition and conference. Most major transportation interchanges - of which airports are a type - are now designed to make more money from retailing and advertising than they do from their "primary function" Ian Ritchie, "Travelling Architects", Architecture of Transportation, p 29. - ie. facilitating transition between ground and air transport.