Zaha Hadid Architects and Cox Architecture have unveiled the concept for the new Sydney International Airport.
The design is based on traditional Australian architecture and natural forms and is expected to have an "unmistakable regional identity". The international bureaus Foster + Partners and Rogers Stirk Harbor + Partners and Gensler also appeared among the applicants for the project.
Zaha Hadid Architects and COX Architecture, the winners of the competition for the new airport project, will be responsible for the development of the first stage of the project, as well as the plan for its development over the next 40 years. The project was approved for "understanding the local context", as well as striving to be truly energy efficient. The design assumes maximum natural light and ventilation, as well as a water purification and recycling system. The airport's design, presented by the architecture firms, features an overhanging flat roof that nods to verandahs in traditional Australian architecture, as well as unusual landscaping and undulating wood screens that are shaped like Australian nature.
Sydney West Airport, which will be named after aviator Nancy Bird Walton, will be one of the starting points for the development of Parkland City, the third largest urban agglomeration. The opening of the new airport is scheduled for 2026. A total of four major construction phases are planned. The investors plan to achieve the passenger traffic of the new airport up to 10 million people in 2026, as well as its growth to 82 million people per year by 2060, when the project is fully implemented. Thus, the construction of the airport is predicted to support the development of western Sydney in the coming decades, and the airport itself in 40 years will become "the largest gateway to the Green Continent".
“This design is an evolution of Australian architecture past, present and future. It draws inspiration from both traditional architectural features, such as the terraces of Australian townhouses, and the natural beauty of the surrounding scenery,” commented Cristiano Ceccato, director of Zaha Hadid Architects.
UK-based Zaha Hadid Architects completed one of the world's largest airports in Beijing in 2019 with a gigantic starfish-shaped structure spanning nearly 1 million square meters at a cost of $11 billion.
