The facts
Client: Kurdistan Regional Government
Location: Kurdistan
Services: Architecture
Sector: Aviation
Project Value: £450m
Start/Completion: 2003-2009
The project
Following the liberation of Iraq in 2003, the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG)
decided to transform Erbil’s former military base – which comprised
a short 2,800 metre runway and temporary terminal buildings - into
a modern civil aviation
airport which would serve as a
major gateway to the world.
Erbil International
Airport duly opened on July 7, 2005, welcoming its first
IATA (International Air Transport Association) carrier on December
11 the following year.
The project comprised a new 4km runway – one
of the longest in the world - specifically designed to accommodate
the huge Airbus A380; associated
airfield infrastructure; a main passenger terminal and VIP terminal
with capacity for three million passengers (with possible expansion
to six million); ancillary buildings; and, critically, the
development of the landside access road to the airport site.
Capita Symonds developed the concept and
detailed design for the main passenger terminal, VIP terminal and
administrative building.
The structural form of the canopy created a
linear roof shape which emphasises passenger movement through the
building. It minimises the presence of columns at concourse level,
providing flexibility for future change and potential future
expansion.
The functions of the building are broadly
divided into public and private activities with the public
concourse areas located on the upper levels and the support areas
located on the lower level. The sequence of security, arrivals and
departures and the important transition between landside and
airside is a logical development of the brief.
In addition to the two primary levels, a third
mezzanine level has been incorporated in the form of elevated clad
‘Pod’ structures which provide a choice of private lounges and
restaurants.
Kurdistan’s
great natural resources of oil, natural gas and other minerals are
creating a flourishing and rapidly growing business environment. The airport’s domestic
traffic, as well as regional traffic throughout the expansive
Middle East, is rapidly growing as
expatriates from Iraqi Kurdistan, as well
as the wider diaspora, return home.