Taoyuan International Airport Corp (TIAC) on Monday won the Taiwan Architecture Award for its renovation of Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal One.
Organized by Taiwan Architect Magazine, the award is considered the top prize in the nation’s architectural industry, with the airport operator beating 207 other entries.
The renovation of Terminal One began in 2010. To give the facility, which had been in service for 31 years, a new look, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications entrusted Japanese architect Norihiko Dan with the task of designing and supervising the construction.
The renovation was completed in June last year.
The most distinctive feature of Dan’s design was the glass curtain covering the exterior of the terminal, members of the award’s review committee said.
The design fully utilized the outdoor platforms on the third floor of the terminal, with the glass curtain — inspired by the image of a bird’s wings — serving as the roof over these platforms, it said.
The design not only made it possible to increase the floor space without any additional construction, but it also created a new customs and passport inspection zone on the third floor, the committee said.
Meanwhile, the structure was reinforced with steel beams, it said.
Construction had to proceed while the terminal continued to operate, which greatly enhanced the difficulty of the task, it said.
The cost of renovating the Terminal One was about NT$2.77 billion (US$90.54 million), which was only about 5 percent of what the government would have spent if it had chosen to tear down the old terminal and rebuild it, the committee added.
The design also drastically reduced the carbon emissions and waste soil that would have been produced normally during construction, the committee said.
Comparing the construction to a surgical operation, Dan said that renovating the terminal was far more difficult than trying to build a new one, both in terms of design and construction.
The airport operator said that the renovation has transformed several places inside the terminal, such as the lobby for the check-in counters. Meanwhile, the traffic routes for airport taxis and airport buses are now separate, with the large buses operating at the underground level and smaller vehicles above the ground, the company said.
This year, Terminal One has already served about 11.90 million passengers, TIAC said.
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