Airport terminals are among the most significant public architecture commissions of the 21st century. GHD Woodhead start our considerations on the basis of the individual human experience of people in transition, with an exploration of opportunities that arise between departure and arrival. This airport project of a large scale structure has been designed as both a screen to a multi-deck carpark and as a landscape device to give spatial defi nition to the new plaza at Adelaide Airport.
It serves as a memorable gateway experience for arrival and departure. The truss frame structure is a three dimensional, twisting form which has an elegant stainless steel woven mesh
wrapping around two sides. At night the frame and mesh is dynamically lit to enhance the arrival and departure experience.
The innovative use of parametric software was crucial to the conception and development of the design, through to documentation and beyond. The key to its success was the strategy taken to construct, use and share the 3D model within the design process. Research was conducted to find out how other models had been built and shared at this scale. Our model was built in a way that allowed continual refinement and
change without the need for rebuilding. Manipulations of form automatically changed the structure to follow the shape. The structure was set up to allow (for example) spans between structural nodes to be updated simply by inputting the span in the parameter callout. All programmed structural nodes would update their span distances without the need for direct modelling.
This process allowed for continuous, integrated feedback and refinement, and a much faster timeframe for design and documentation than that of a traditional workflow.
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