Stuttgart Airport

The terminal 1 building is reduced to the basic forms of the longitudinal wing with triangular cross-section and the rectangular hall. The structural “trees” supporting the roof are the inimitable characteristic of the airport building. The skeleton corresponds to the structure of the compound umbel. Force flowing from the roof loads is transmitted down into the “twigs” via a narrow grid of supporting members (4 to 5 m span), groups of four branches being supported by a further thicker “branch” each. Twelve tube section “branches” combine to form one of the “tree trunks” which tie into the base.

Corresponding to the linear arrangements of aircraft positions, the waiting halls and connecting passages are aligned in a long element which serves as a noise barrier towards landside. The raking façade surfaces bind the building mass into the typography of its environment. The huge aircraft hangar opens up on all sides as a weather-protected open space and dominates the complex, forming a large-scale “airport marker”.

On the apron side both building forms overlap and interpenetrate. The longitudinal building’s ridge dissolves in staggered levels into the hall, curving out in a semicircle in the middle. The façade of the plinth is clad in natural stone. The windows are recessed and set vertically in natural stone in the slanting façade surface – the monolithic plinth thereby acquires a sculptured quality. The lightweight steel structure of the large concourse hall rises above. The glazed south front of the great hall is shielded from the sun by motor-driven shading devices. The analogy to aircraft wings and landing flaps is intentional.

The long-stretched building orientated to the apron having a cross section like a dike, is to be extended thus forming the backbone supporting the new building of Terminal II. The square two-storey building is separated from the waiting building by a narrow glass hall. The facade is closed, in contrast to the glazed Terminal I, by granite cladding and is thus totally orientated inwardly to a central court, which is lit by a roof light. The scale of the granite facade is modulated into pilasters and columns formed into a stone pergola at first floor level.

The characteristic design features of Terminal 1 – the tree-shaped columns of the load-bearing structure and the dike-shaped building bar orientated towards the apron – were continued throughout the extension. The roof of Terminal 3 is however dissolved into single shed areas, in order to maintain the tree structure with an identical roof incline but a confined building height. A total of 18 steel trees support the stepped roof (12 trees in Terminal 1). A structural element projecting from the building bar provides the required building depth and an increased floor area on the apron side. Spatially it is connected to the succinct main bar building, but visually it is separated with glass roof lights.

The occupied floor area and circulation routes of the 40 check-in desks centrally located in two parallel rows in the departure hall were designed more generously than in Terminal 1. Four additional passenger bridges allow a comfortable entry into the aircrafts. On the street side, the arrival hall connects both terminals as a mall over a length of 260 m. The simple and obvious positioning of the access elements and voids allowing vertical visual links guarantee an immediate orientation in the new “Terminal of Clarity“. Without any detours passengers can reach Terminal 3 with the suburban railway, a lift directly connects the platform to the arrival level of the terminal.