Aviation & Architecture: Air Terminal Design and Emergence of AIrport Cities

3 units

As seaports and train stations were once hubs of commerce and trade, airports serve as vital engines to today's economy, linking cities and regions to the globalized economic landscape. Surrounding airports, entire cities are emerging both organically and in planned developments, building upon the business related to air travel with office parks, conference centers, hotels, entertainment districts and retail. This seminar will be structured in three parts. In the first part, we will examine the fundamentals of transportation architecture and the way air terminal design has developed. Starting as simple structures on an airfield in the 1920s, airports were designed as heroic modern structures from the 1940s to 1980s, ubiquitous terminals in the 1980s thru early 2000s, and most recently as regionally expressive terminals in the 21st century. Students will research, analyze and present case studies, mapping an understanding of the basic architectural components of air terminal design. In the second part, we will explore the rise of airport cities. Students will work in teams of two to research and analyze the planning, governance, impact and growth of airport cities. Sites we will study include developments around Singapore's Changi, Amsterdam's Schipol, London's Heathrow, Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Chicago's O'Hare. The third part of the seminar will allow students to select a topic of special interest that spans the scale of terminal design and airport cities. Students will initiate independent research to deliver a final paper and presentation on the topic of their choice related to aviation, transportation architecture and planning. Seminars will be supplemented with guest lectures and will be highly conversational. We will explore opportunities for site visits to both airports and airport cities.