Celebration of arrival and departure : airport as threshold between sky and ground

Abstract

An airport terminal building celebrates arrival and departure as the gate to a city and the sky. However, many contemporary airport terminals do not play the role as a gate. Circulation is often uninspiring and monotonous, and as a result disengages the city from the sky. These terminals adopt the "Uniform Circulation" which let passengers simply move from one side to· the other. This circulation comes from not site conditions but operational requirements. This thesis explores airport terminal design with an alternative circulation coming from site conditions. In Kagoshima, Japan, I propose an airport terminal building designed as a gate. Kagoshima City is located close to Sakurajima, an active volcano visible from the site. The volcano offers a contrasting marker between sky and ground, a natural counterpart to the man-made gate that is the airport.