Airport Design Takes Off

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As such, design is playing a part within airports eager to distinguish themselves from the competition. Korea countered Japan's island-based airport at Kansai with its own, at Incheon. Japan came back with another at Narita. Dubai is currently betting big ($4.1 billion) on becoming the largest airport in the world, with a terminal dedicated to processing the superjumbo plane from Airbus.

Green Design

The biggest growth in the industry is definitely to the east. The domestic market in Asia Pacific is predicted to surpass that of North America (the largest market since the outset of commercial aviation) by 2025. As a result, it's no surprise to see much of the construction activity is taking place in that region. China has fast-tracked airport construction, with plans to build 48 new airports in addition to Norman Foster & Partner's massive new facility in Beijing, slated to open in time for the 2008 Olympics. India's Minister of Civil Aviation indicated recently that he will support the development of new routes and new city pairings to help relieve congestion.

But it's not a simple matter of supplying more planes and more flights. Quite rightly, there's also increased pressure from environmental groups to cut down on the emissions and footprint left by both airplane and airport. "We have to find solutions that can make an airport process people faster and find better and more efficient ways to get planes on and off the ground," says Kent Turner, senior principal at the New York City office of architectural firm HOK.

Turner recently concluded six years work on Boston's Logan Airport, the first U.S. airport to receive LEED certification for conforming to sustainable design principles. "I don't know if it will take a great leap of technology but it's hard to imagine that the classic jet engine burning tons of fuel will be happening years down the road."

Vision vs. Reality

In many cases, airports have taken the marquee architect approach: Foster in Beijing; Richard Rogers in Madrid; Renzo Piano in Kansai, Japan; Helmut Jahn in Bangkok, Thailand; and Frank Gehry, who has an as-yet unapproved design in the woks for Venice, Italy. It's a tactic that hasn't met with resounding approval from all within the industry, who argue that every airport should be unique to its locale, rather than simply the newest feather in an architect's cap.

Sometimes, the architect's vision remains unrelated to reality—Kansai is all but empty, leaving the majestic halls which Piano envisioned thrumming with travelers feeling a little deserted. There have been complaints of too few practical necessities, such as restrooms and concession stands, as well as non-intuitive foot traffic patterns at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport.

"In Europe and Asia, 'black cape' [big name] architects are a desired commodity because the owners of those airports think that it will make them better than their competitors," says Gensler's Steinert. "But these are grandiose, Taj Mahal types of statements. All too often, those architects provide an image and another firm tries to execute the design."

Of course, Steinert would say that—Gensler has designed 44 terminal buildings around the world, including the forthcoming JetBlue-specific terminal at JFK in New York and Terminal Five at Chicago's O'Hare, and yet is hardly acknowledged in the same breath as the big-name architects mentioned above. But he makes a valid point: Superficial design that looks impressive, but doesn't serve the needs of the customers, isn't what is required here.

Function First

A grand architectural statement may not, in the case of airports, be what is called for. "It has to work functionally first, with the outside a reflection of what is going on in the inside," concludes Steinert. "Who really sees the outside of the building? The pilots? Better to have a nice ceiling inside so that millions of people can experience it."

One thing's for sure, air travel isn't going away—and the challenges it presents can't be ignored. Airports continue to be important contributors to local coffers (the regional economic impact of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airports is more than $18.7 billion a year) and employment (airports worldwide employ over 350,000 people directly, over 4.5 million in related jobs).

So we took stock, rounding up some of the world's most interesting airport designs of today (with a few from tomorrow). Check out the slide show here.

Helen Walters is the editor for BusinessWeek.com's Innovation and Design Channel.