Lying at the hub of a global region reaching across Asia and Australasia, Chek Lap Kok is one of the worlds largest airports. Completed in 1998 as Hong Kongs sole air terminal, by 2040 it will handle eighty million passengers per annum - the same number as Londons Heathrow and New Yorks JFK airports combined. Among the most ambitious construction projects of modern times, the land on which the airport stands was once a mountainous island. In a major reclamation programme, its 100-metre peak was reduced to 7 metres above sea level and the island was expanded to four times its original area - equal to the size of the Kowloon peninsula.
The terminal building extends a concept pioneered by the practice at Stansted Airport a model since adopted by airport planners worldwide. It is characterised by a lightweight roof, free of service installations; natural lighting; and the integration beneath the main concourse of baggage handling, environmental services and transportation. With its uncluttered spaces, bathed in light, it forms a spectacular gateway to the city. Equally important to the clarity of the space is the accentuation of natural orientation points both within the building and beyond: departing passengers are aware of the land and the water, and can see the aircraft. Similarly, the airports vaulted roof provides a constant point of reference, whether you are arriving or departing. The direction of the vaults remains constant throughout the building, regardless of the divergent directions that the prongs take, so that the roof itself becomes an aid to navigation. Departing passengers pass through the East Hall, the largest single airport retail space in the world; if an airport on this scale can be thought of as a city in microcosm, then this is its market square.
People reach the airport from Hong Kong via either mainland road or rail links, which cross two new bridges and a causeway to Lantau to the south, those arriving by train alighting at the Ground Transportation Centre at the eastern end of the terminal. The entire journey between city and airport can be completed in a remarkable twenty minutes.
Client:
Hong Kong Airport Authority
Consultants:
Ove Arup and Partners, WT Partnership, Urbis Travers Morgan Ltd., Fisher Marantz Renfro Stone, BAA, Mott Connell Ltd, O'Brien-Kreizberg and Associates Ltd, Wilbur Smith Associates