Beijing’s new international air terminal, which opened recently — in time for the Summer Olympics surge — attracts and embodies superlatives.
It also embodies the new China — a country racing headlong into the future, fuelled by an economy on fire.
The airy glass-and steel structure, even at two miles long and half-a-mile wide, raced from design to take-off in four years.
Most airport projects take a decade or more to complete and usually involve lengthy reviews, detailed assessments, planning committees, public hearings and environmental-impact statements.
For many countries increasingly worried about how competitive and fast-moving China is, this $2.8 billion project provides one more reason to fret.
China’s authoritarian system can certainly move. At its peak, the construction site had 50,000 workers toiling day and night.
“Most Western politicians wouldn’t admit agreeing to that system, but they’re very jealous,” said Rory McGowan, Beijing-based director of global engineering company Ove Arup & Partners, which worked on the project.
The Chinese “can react to decisions four or five times faster than we can [in the West] because China runs the way it does.”
China has a long history of awing visitors with structures that evoke size and power epitomised by the Forbidden City.
The new Terminal 3 at Beijing Capital International Airport is a modern counterpart, the gateway to a new China.
“This is the front door of China,” said Brian Timmoney, Beijing-based partner with architect Norman Foster, who is based in London.
The $2.8 billion terminal, designed by Foster and the Beijing Architectural Design and Research Institute, measures 1.3 million square metres and boasts a runway able to handle new Airbus A380 “superjumbo” aircraft.
It has got all the bells and whistles, including “barrier-free” facilities for the handicapped, floor tracking to guide the blind and multi-denominational prayer rooms in an officially atheist country.
It also has baby-changing facilities and 26 smoking rooms with advanced filtering systems. In short, a whole lot of stuff you probably will not see again during your stay in China.
The terminal’s designers put a premium on air, light, greenery and distinct Chinese characteristics.
The sloping roof is meant to evoke a dragon and its triangular skylights meant to resemble scales.
Feng shui principles were incorporated into the design while the interior is decorated in colours that hold special meaning for the Chinese.
“Feng shui has a scientific and a superstitious side,” said Shao Weiping, principal architect with Beijing Architectural Design. “We used the scientific side.”
Passengers entering the terminal are met with a blaze of red, reminiscent of celebration, good luck, joy and enthusiasm.
By the time you approach your gate over a mile away, preferably using an automated train, the interior has shaded to yellow.
This colour is associated with royalty, motherhood and Earth, which presumably act as a calming influence for your boarding experience.
Chinese officials tried to be diplomatic when comparing the terminal’s rapid construction schedule to London’s Heathrow’s Terminal 5, Europe’s busiest, for which planning took five years.
“Britain is relatively more forward-looking in planning,” Dong Zhiyi, the airport’s deputy general manager, told reporters, before adding: “The speed with which [the terminal] was built shows our capabilities.”
