London-based Twelve Architects & Masterplanners have won a competition to deliver a radical new airport for Rostov, Russia, just in time for the 2018 World Cup.
Jivan Vartanian, Minster of Transport for Rostov, described Twelve Architects' proposal as the “most memorable and unique" out of the ten other competing practices, saying that the "project may look too risky now but in future it will become the most advanced".
The £600 million airport is set to handle an initial demand of five million passengers a year, incorporating "offices, a hotel, a business centre and a high-speed railway station". According to Twelve, the design, dominated by four arches, "was inspired by the idea of an airport as a bridge connecting cities together" and "celebrates the principal routes for passengers when going through the arrival and departure process".
The design also "responds to local climate to create an environmentally sensitive solution that embraces passive design and renewable energies and responds to both the summer and winter climate".
References: BDOnline, AJ, Twelve Architects