Western Sydney Airport – the city’s newly proposed second airport, located in Badgerys Creek, New South Wales, Australia, and set to open in 2026 – has called for expressions of interest from leading airport designers for the design of the hub’s new terminal. Firms pitching for the project will have to outline how they plan to involve university students who have a link to western Sydney.
Western Sydney Airport CEO Graham Millett said the airport is looking for firms with experience designing a comparable airport in the past five years. “We’re going to ensure that Western Sydney will be proud of the airport’s terminal, but we want a design that prioritizes pleasing our future passengers,” Millett said.
“If you look at airports around the world, Singapore’s Changi Airport is regularly voted the world’s best – the design of its famous Terminal 4 was focused more on offering passengers a world-class experience than the external look,” he added.
According to Millett, Western Sydney Airport’s terminal will be designed from the inside out. “We’ll not only offer the smoothest possible journey from the terminal entrance to the aircraft gate, but we want the terminal to be a destination in itself,” he explained.
“Think retail, restaurants and entertainment before you go through security, streamlined processing, lots of space and light, and a terminal that’s reliable, fun and easy to find your way around.”
Western Sydney Airport will be designed to cater for up to 10 million passengers a year and it will have a combined international and domestic terminal. The terminal will be designed to grow in stages without disrupting passengers, becoming the largest gateway to Australia in the 2060s, catering for more than 80 million passengers a year.
Following the open call for entries, potential terminal designs will go through a competitive process, with a final design being chosen by a panel that will be finalized in coming months. The final terminal design is expected to be unveiled by the end of 2019.
Interested in airport design and development? Check out the ‘Airport Design, Planning & Development’ stream at the Passenger Terminal Conference, which takes place during Passenger Terminal Expo, on March 26, 27 and 28, 2019, in London.
