RSHP wins competition for T3 at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport

The practice, working alongside Taiwan engineering firm CECI, saw off competition from Foster + Partners and UN Studio to win the project. The jury said that it had been impressed with the ‘innovative planning and design’ submitted by RSHP.

The design for Taoyuan Terminal 3 synthesises the practice’s previous major airport experience with the specific brief. It has brought together the flexibility of the single span, loose fit volume of Heathrow Terminal 5 with the warmth and human qualities of the flowing interior spaces of Barajas Terminal 4. The result is a unique, dynamic and fluid architecture that allows for easy adaption and future transformation of airport functions without compromising the passenger experience or the architectural integrity.

The RSHP proposal is inherently simple in its concept. The design is inspired by Taiwan’s beautiful landscapes, the seas surrounding it, its rhythms of nature and life to create a series of unique interior places designed for their purpose and protected beneath an elegant hard shell roof. Within, a soft inner surface is malleable and dynamic to celebrate and form the ever changing spaces below. The nature of the interior spaces whether grand, intimate, uniform or dramatic and the extent of those spaces too can be changed. This adjustable scaling will give passengers spatial clarity in all areas; large, small, busy or quiet, to reduce stress and improve wellbeing and comfort. This flexibility ensures the airport is always at its best and suitably presented as the principal gateway to and from Taiwan to the rest of the world.

This terminal will be the first of a new generation, a highlight in the journey for new and seasoned travellers alike. It will offer arriving passengers an equality of spatial experience to those departing. Its rational plan arrangement is forecast to deliver minimum connection times of just 40 minutes, the best in the region, with simple way-finding and airside connectivity.

Ivan Harbour, Partner, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners said “We are delighted to have won the competition for the Third terminal at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.

“We have worked in Taiwan for 15 years and have made many friends during that time. This competition is the product of a successful international joint venture with those colleagues.

Our proposal is focussed on a passenger’s experience with a deliberate strategy to absorb constant future change, whilst always retaining the integrity of its unique design. The terminal will be designed to meet the highest sustainability criteria; holistic engineering and architecture.

“We have created a rationally planned and easy to use airport that will be characterised by a flowing sequence of beautifully lit, acoustically comfortable and well-proportioned spaces. It will be an airport where the drama of the spatial experience is shared by all, at all times.

The approach to the airport and the open spaces within it will have an urban quality akin to a city centre. Addressing these spaces there will be a variety of buildings that, together with the new and existing terminals, will form the heart of a new compact, vibrant ‘aero’ city.”

Formerly known as Chiang Kai-shek International Airport, the airport is the largest in Taiwan and the eleventh busiest in the world. Upon completion in 2020 the new terminal will be able to host 45 million passengers a year.

The competition team for T3 comprised of: Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, CECI, Arup, Fei & Cheng Associates, Gillespies, The Design Solution, Fraport, OTC Planning & Design and BNP Associates.