Madrid Barajas Airport opened in 1933 and was subsequently extended several times. By the early ‘90s, the existing airport had become over-stretched and the need for a terminal, satellite, ancillary buildings and two new runways in the north-west was identified. The client, the Spanish National Airports Authority (AENA) initiated an international competition which was won by a consortium of Richard Rogers Partnership, the Spanish practice Estudio Lamela and two engineering companies TPS and Initec in 1997. The design was chosen for it simplicity, adaptability and flexibility, allowing for future changes and extensions.
As a 21st-century airport, the New Terminal at Barajas will be efficient, simple, economic and functional, accommodating anticipated growth in passenger traffic, which could be up to 35 million per annum in 2010 and 50 million in 2020, double the capacity of the old airport.
The new NAT is located only three kilometres from the old terminals and, after public transportation links have been completed, will be only 15 minutes by underground from the city centre, enhancing Madrid’s prominence as a major cosmopolitan centre and prime transport hub. When the new Barajas Airport is fully operational, there will be a workforce of 20,000 on site each day.
The New Terminal Building should quickly adapt to economic and social changes and have the capacity to implement new technologies, whilst respecting the environment.
Aims of The DESIGN are:
Integration into the landscape
Airport terminals are normally surrounded by secondary elements (car parks, power plants etc.) that obscure orientation through the airport. In this design, such structures are integrated into the main building, taking into account the topography of the local area. The canyons – large courtyards full of daylight – establish a sequence that incorporates the landscape into the interior space.
Energy
Despite the extreme heat of summer in Madrid, the design team were committed to the use of passive environmental systems wherever possible, while maximising transparency and views towards the aircraft and the mountains beyond. The building benefits from a north-south orientation with the primary facades facing east and west – the optimum layout for protecting the building against solar gain. The facades are protected by a combination of deep roof overhangs and external shading. A low energy displacement ventilation system is used in the pier, and elsewhere a more conventional high velocity system is used. Given the multi-level section, a strategy was also needed to bring natural light down into the lower levels. The solution is a series of light-filled ‘canyons’. The canyons are spectacular full-height spaces, spanned by bridges in which arriving and departing passengers, though segregated, can share the drama of the imposing space.
Spatial Clarity
Barajas is a model of legibility, with a straightforward linear diagram and a clear progression of spaces for departing and arriving passengers. The accommodation is distributed over six floors; three above ground for check-in, security, boarding and baggage reclaim, and three underground levels for maintenance, baggage processing and transferring passengers between buildings. The flow of passengers starts in the forecourt and goes through the check-in counters and the security control until the boarding lounge.
Flexibility
The layout proposed is adaptable to all activities at the airport, maintaining a strong architectural identity through all stages of the project, with a view to the need for potential extensions of the buildings.
