MAD Architects has just unveiled the design for Lishui Airport in China. Dubbed the "forest city,” Lishui is known for its green landscapes and valleys in the Southwest Zhejiang Province. Situated amidst hilly terrain, approximately 15 kilometers southwest of the city, the airport is envisioned as a domestic, regional transportation hub seeking to harmonize with the natural surroundings.
With an expected annual passenger capacity of one million, the scheme will serve as Lishui’s municipal airport. The project encompasses 2,267 hectares of land, with elevational disparities reaching nearly 100 meters. The airport’s architectural silhouette resembles a white-feathered bird ready to soar, featuring a silver-white canopy. This avian-inspired building integrates with the surrounding topography, imitating a garden itself.
Lishui is a garden city, and her airport should also be in a garden. As a municipal airport, Lishui Airport embodies the essence of transportation facilities as a public space, prioritizing convenience, human scale, and city identity over sheer size and extravagance. –Ma Yansong, MAD Architects
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Rafael Viñoly Architects Unveils Design for Vinyard-Topped Airport Terminal in Florence, ItalyThe airport is envisioned as a spiritual beacon within the region. Internally, warm wood tones across the interior combine with a shuttle-shaped skylight to promote energy efficiency and blur the boundary between indoor and outdoor spaces. The terminal's one-and-a-half-story arrangement, which places waiting spaces on the upper level and departure amenities on the ground level, is carefully designed to maximize passenger flow. Improved contact between passengers and their surroundings is further facilitated by a centrally located planted pathway within the recessed parking space.
In anticipation of future growth, the airport’s design accommodates increasing passenger numbers, forecasting 1.8 million passengers by 2030 and 5 million by 2050. In fact, the scheme incorporates the design of an additional international terminal. Construction of the Lishui Airport is set to be completed and in operation by the end of 2024.
In similar news, MAD Architects recently revealed the design of the Anji Culture and Art Center, which is also in the Zhejiang Province in southeast China. In Hangzhou, the capital of China’s Zhejiang province, Foster + Partners has been selected as the winner of an international competition to design a new center for the city. The master plan entails a green and interconnected mixed-use quarter. Finally, UNStudio has recently unveiled the design of the new Hiwell Amber Center, a complex of four high-rise towers planned to add offices, apartments, hotels, art spaces, and retail to the city center of Hangzhou, China.
