New airport will reflect flow of history

The concept design for the Beijing New Airport Terminal Building was done by ADP Ingenierie and Zaha Hadid Architects. Provided to China Daily

The proposed design of Beijing's new airport reflects the country's rich cultural history and the remarkable future predicted for the country, according to the architects working on the project.

"The overall symmetry of the project and the flowing, curving forms integrate the design into a harmonious composition which evokes Chinese culture - its colors and materials are also emblematic of Chinese traditional visual language," said a spokesman for British company Zaha Hadid Architects.

The design sketch for the new airport was released on Monday. The star-shaped terminal will include "an integrated multimodal transport center featuring direct links to local and national rail services including the high-speed rail", the spokesman said.

The airport is designed to be "a key transport hub within Beijing's growing infrastructure development and a catalyst for the region's economic development, including the city of Tianjin and Hebei province".

The terminal has been designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and the French architectural firm ADP Ingenierie.

Airport specialist ADPI won an international design competition for the project that was launched in 2011. The Beijing New Airport Headquarters brought ADPI and the British firm together in October 2014 to develop the design.

The airport will be located in the capital's southern Daxing district. The terminal will initially accommodate 45 million passengers per year, and when complete will be the world's largest airport passenger terminal.