Designing a global gateway

International airports are portals to the world. They are the modern gateways that welcome visitors and returning citizens and therefore should present the best aspects of airport design in terms of functionality, aesthetics and, in light of today’s new normal, of climate change, sustainability.

My hands down favorite international airport complex is Singapore Changi Airport. Since it opened in 1981, the island state’s airport has won numerous awards. It has been voted the world’s best countless years in the running and continues to rank in the top 10 every year for various aspects of airport operations, passenger satisfaction and overall efficiency. Thousands of traveling Filipinos and Pinoys who work and live there can attest to this.

As reported in an article printed in the Philippine STAR’s  Business section last year – “Changi was recently named the World’s Best Airport, Best Airport in Asia, and the Best Airport for Leisure Amenities at the 2013 Skytrax World Airport Awards held in Geneva, Switzerland. The award was based on the results of a satisfaction survey with more than 12 million airport customers in 160 countries as respondents. Skytrax, the world’s top airport award-giving body, also bestowed the best airport award on Changi Airport in 2012, 2011 and 2010.”

I first visited Singapore in July 1981 and landed in Changi when it was sparkling new. Three decades hence and over a hundred flights to Singapore later (I lived there for 12 years), the airport is still sparking and evolving every year.

One of my favorite books on design is, in fact, Designing the World’s Best: Singapore Changi Airport. The book, which documents the design and construction of the SD$4 billion complex, was written by the brilliant architect/writer Nirmal Kishnani, who now teaches at the National University of Singapore.

I met Nirmal when I did some consultancy work for Changi (my firm was the landscape architectural consultant for sections of Changi’s T2 and T1). He was great to work with and I experienced firsthand the thorough professionalism of the Changi team, which is ingrained in their corporate structure. Their standards are extremely high and this is all towards the ultimate goal of providing the best service and experience for travelers.

The whole experience of using Changi, whether leaving or arriving, is fast, pleasant and comfortable. Space planning is functional but also commodious enough for peak passenger situations. It never took me more than 30 minutes from landing or an hour before take off, although now I prefer to arrive early (via the integrated MRT or convenient taxi) to shop before take off.

The Changi management and consultants (PWD Airport Development Division — now known as CPG) have developed airport design to a fine science based on decades of experience and acknowledged success.

This is why I was excited that they were being brought in by Filinvest Development Corporation for the Mactan Cebu International Airport bid.

They were one of seven bidders that the Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) pre-qualified. The brief for the bid covered the building of a “new world-class passenger terminal (to) accommodate up to eight million travelers per year.” 

Filinvest president and CEO Josephine Gotianun Yap was quoted as saying, “With Changi as our key partner for the Cebu airport project, we would be able to design and build an airport that will be at par with the best airports in the Asian region … (and would make us) globally competitive with a world-class facility that would make an impression tourists and foreign investors.”

Filinvest is no stranger to large-scale development with a portfolio that stretches back over 40 years including the expansive Filinvest City in Alabang, numerous residential subdivisions and condominium complexes. They are also no stranger to Cebu (the Gotianuns have family roots there) where they are currently developing Citta Di Mare, a mixed-use development on the southern section of the Cebu Metropolitan area.

Unfortunately, the bid appears to be going to another group whose technical partner GMR currently runs the Delhi Indira Gandhi International (which reportedly ranks 69th in the World Airport Awards Passenger’s Choice survey). Reports circulating also point to questions of the group’s involvement in the Maldives’ airport, which was having problems.

The social network is abuzz about the pending DOTC award. On websites like skyscrapercity.com are found a slew of postings critiquing the airport design of GMR, and making references to the group’s business integrity and track record. Many apparently do not like the layout and roof silhouette, which shows a series of long sections each with a continuous hipped roof, that they say make the structure look like “cheap poultry sheds.”

Of course, an airport is not just its roof. The Yolanda disaster, however, points to hip roofs as the most prone to flying off in extreme winds. Central Cebu just missed the brunt of Yolanda. If the typhoon had veered a few degrees lower, it would have hit Mactan directly. The Filinvest-Changi proposal shows a roof that is rounded and streamlined. I do not know if this was a conscious design intent, but such shapes allow winds to flow around the structure.

The whole situation reminds me of the T3 fiasco here in Manila. A consortium of taipans had brought in the people from Changi for a bid. They lost out to a local firm of questionable background. Everyone knows what has happened since. It is an understatement to say that many are not enamored of NAIA’s T3 design, but we have to live with it.

I am definitely biased toward Changi Airport and its success, but with reason. Here is one opportunity to learn and benefit from the world’s acknowledged best in airport design and operations. I am also Cebuano and would not like to see Cebu’s gateway to the world be less than it could be. Ultimately, the decision rests on the DOTC. We all hope that their decision leads to a future where Cebu has an international airport in the top 10, not the bottom 60s or heaven forbid, the 10 worst.

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Feedback is welcome. Please e-mail the writer at paulo.alcazare@gmial.com.