Concept
The concept is based on a comprehensive design approach aimed at endowing Zürich airport with a new visual identity creating a venue of high quality for visitors, while at the same time ensuring the necessary functional character.
The emphasis was placed on five design measures – a landmark new roof, a continous floor covering, a consistent lighting concept, minor changes to the facades and an overriding understated green concept. The priority was to create clarity in this complex context with a few simple measures making it easier for people to find their way around, while at the same time generating a comprehensively bright and friendly atmosphere.
Roof
The roof as a clear design element provides the introduction to the new access zone.
As a readily recognizable landmark its elegant form harmonizes with the language and geometry of the airport.
By including the surrounding building sections it articulates a clear and visible space connecting up the existing buildings.
While the shape follows the vertical line between Terminals 1 and 2, the carriageway has been harmonised in the course of renewal with this geometry, so creating a calm and easily recognisable zone ahead of the check-in.
The light and elegant form also creates a dynamic which symbolically highlights the character of a transport structure and recalls associations with flying. Apart from the upper termination, the light structure consists of two rows of pillars which were put in place after initial static studies without the need for further major intervention in the existing structures.
The distance generated by the form of the new structure from the facades of the terminals is largely glazed to ensure continuing clarity and lighting of the buildings. In the Terminal 1 zone sunguard elements, sometimes with printed patterns, are provided to minimize heat generation within the building.
