If any country on Earth could sport the world’s greenest airport building, it’s Norway. The Oslo-based studio Nordic — Office of Architecture has completed a 115,000-square-meter [1.2-million-square-foot] expansion to the Oslo Airport, Gardermoen, making it the first of its kind to receive a BREEAM “Excellent” sustainability rating.
The project features a slew of renewable resources contributing to its success: passive-house-level insulation, recycled steel, natural lighting and natural thermal energy sources. The most striking piece of the design is the new 300-meter-long [1,000-foot-long] pier that features a wood-wrapped exterior shell.
The pier was constructed with giant, curved glulam beams and clad in oak collected from the Scandinavian forests. From the sky, the timber structure is as visually compelling as it is efficient. The massive cylindrical design includes large rectangular windows that line the length of the pier as well as a floor-to-ceiling, semicircular glass panel that looks out at the passing planes. The structure is composed of recycled steel and a special concrete mixed with volcanic ash.
Nordic was part of a team of architects that completed the airport’s original design in the late-1990s. In 2009, they were called upon again to complete this expansion project, a necessary construction for the international hub intended to increase capacity from 19 million to 30 million passengers. The firm set its sights on not only creating more room by doubling the size of the existing terminal building, but also improving connectivity throughout the entire airport. The new design has domestic and international areas situated on top of the other, allowing travelers to flow freely through all gates.
Nordic also reduced the building’s carbon footprint by 35 percent and sliced energy consumption by 50 percent. In order to do this, the firm created an on-site snow depot underneath the building to store snow collected during the winter months to be used as a coolant during the summer.
Nordic is an international firm that specializes in master plan projects like airports and hospitals. The firm is currently working on a handful of airport projects around the world including the Istanbul New Airport, set to be the world’s largest airport, handling 150 million passengers. The first stage of the airport is expected to open early next year.
Images via Nordic — Office of Architecture