To mark the year of the dragon, Foster + Partners is spotlighting Beijing Capital International Airport. Completed as the gateway to the city for the twenty-ninth Olympiad in 2008, the terminal is a symbol of its place. The project celebrates the thrill and poetry of flight, with a soaring aerodynamic roof and dragon-like form.
“This is a building borne of its context. It communicates a uniquely Chinese sense of place and will be a true gateway to the nation. This is expressed in its dragon-like form and the drama of the soaring roof that is a blaze of ‘traditional’ Chinese colours – imperial reds merge into golden yellows. As you proceed along the central axis, a view of the red columns stretching ahead into the far distance evokes images of a Chinese temple.”
Norman Foster, Founder and Executive Chairman, Foster + Partners, 2008
Over the years, much has been made of the winged terminal’s resemblance to a dragon’s back, with its protruding skylights or ‘scales.’ The skylights are both an aid to orientation and sources of daylight − the colour cast changing from red to yellow as passengers progress through the building. The angled roofs of the south-east facing skylights are designed to catch the light and heat from the low morning sun and to shade the openings from the high midday sun.
Read more about Beijing Capital International Airport.
