At a cost of eleven billion US dollars, the Zaha Hadid-designed Beijing Daxing airport opened its doors on the twenty-fifth of September. Not only is it now the biggest airport in the world, it is also among the most advanced, a fitting monument to the legendary Iraqi-British architect's restless imagination.
Beijing Daxing is the first airport Hadid designed, and its sweeping starfish layout proves remarkably space-efficient. Passengers face a journey of just six hundred metres from security to the furthest gate, sparing travellers the long marches that define so many modern terminals.
It is also strikingly green. Photovoltaic power-generation systems have been installed throughout, alongside centralised heating with waste-heat recovery and rainwater collection feeding a comprehensive water-management system. The result is an airport that wears its environmental credentials as openly as its architectural ambition.
Inside, the terminal is flooded with natural light. The spectacular central atrium is supported by eight giant C-shaped columns, each crowned with a skylight one hundred and six metres wide, while five traditional Chinese courtyards accompany the lounges, grounding the futuristic structure in a distinctly local sense of place.
