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Movements in architecture 01 | 2010 Gateway to the new world by Foster + Partners Airport BBI ­ a visit to gmp Architekten Encounter with Airport 2.0 Flying carpet: Terminal 5 at London Heathrow Terminal design » Editorial Designing Osanbashi Pier in Yokohama brought international breakthrough for London-based architectural office FOA (Foreign Office Architects) To the point: Architecture for water and air pulse in conversation with Alejandro Zaera-Polo and Fashid Moussavi (FOA) For an architect what is appealing about designing an airport? In many respects what emerges here is that airports and shopping malls represent the new public spaces in contemporary major cities. This has to do with the fact that we live in a culture increasingly influenced by globalization, in which spaces are linked at an ever faster rate. This is why in the future public life will take place at logistical hubs such as airports and ferry terminals. These places are by no means ethnically or culturally homogenous. They are places in which various cultures and ethnic groups meet and mingle. In recent years, various eye-catching airports have been built. Would you agree that there is a trend to make airports into a country's calling card? An airport or a terminal for high-speed trains these are the places that reflect a place's iden- FOA / Valerie Bennett tity. At the same time they are the new gateways and hubs, not totally dominated by their internal functions but containing an inherent link between the local sphere on the one hand and, the world on the other. As such as an architect you need to address the question of a place's identity in the larger context and not merely reference the region and the local culture. In Europe, in coming years we are unlikely to see anything other than airport expansions. Is as a consequence a country such as China, where there is immense pent-up demand, actually not far more interesting for architects? In Europe and the US we have by no means reached the end of the line in terms of development. In many cases the infrastructure needs to be updated and adapted to the circumstances. In the years to come this is probably going to be the sort of task or challenge we will have to overcome in the so-called "Old World". In the case of the Osanbashi Pier you were confronted with the element water, what does this require of an architect? In Yokohama we also designed the pier as an analogy the shape of a wave. Indeed, the building has a very fluid character overall. Leaving this aesthetic decision aside there are of course many similarities between ferry terminals and airports. The facilities, the logistics and the safety requirements are all similar. Orchestrating various factors can be fairly overwhelming for an architect ... We like to work with set parameters and believe that these facilitate the project, set the direction and help find solutions we perhaps would not have come up with had we had more freedom.. We ...