GUANGZHOU BAIYUN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport is designed to be the greenest airport in the world, setting new standards in term of sustainable airport development. Travellers experience a daylit, naturally ventilated Terminal 3 where vegetation and wooden structures provide pleasant views. While working for Urban Systems Design as Environmental Consultants, our Founding Partners supported the development of the sustainability strategies with focus on thermal comfort and human experience.

The architectural concept interprets the roof as breathing envelope, transforming into ‘vertical funnels’ allowing light into the deepest floorplates while being opaque enough (on average around 75%) to avoid overheating in summer and minimise heat losses in winter. As the ‘lungs’ of the airport, they additionally draw fresh air into the technical plantrooms and collect enough rainwater for Terminal 3 to be 100% water self-sufficient throughout the year (potable and non-potable water demand). Furthermore, building integrated PV panels generate total power of around 15 GWhr/a, with a peak output of 13MW.

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Read more on Archdaily or watch the video below (link for mobile version).