https://vimeo.com/143552601
British architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners (RSHP) have won a competition to design the new
Terminal 3 building at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport. The scheme will deliver a new terminal
building, boarding gates, concourses and a multi-function building, along with transport infrastructure.
The practice, working alongside Taiwan engineering firm CECI, saw off competition from Foster +
Partners and UN Studio to win the project. The jury said that it had been impressed with the
‘innovative planning and design’ submitted by RSHP.
The design for Taoyuan Terminal 3 synthesises the practice’s previous major airport experience with
the specific brief. It has brought together the flexibility of the single span, loose fit volume of Heathrow
Terminal 5 with the warmth and human qualities of the flowing interior spaces of Barajas Terminal 4.
The result is a unique, dynamic and fluid architecture that allows for easy adaption and future
transformation of airport functions without compromising the passenger experience or the
architectural integrity.
The RSHP proposal is inherently simple in its concept. The design is inspired by Taiwan’s beautiful
landscapes, the seas surrounding it, its rhythms of nature and life to create a series of unique interior
places designed for their purpose and protected beneath an elegant hard shell roof. Within, a soft
inner surface is malleable and dynamic to celebrate and form the ever changing spaces below. The
nature of the interior spaces whether grand, intimate, uniform or dramatic and the extent of those
spaces too can be changed. Adjustable scaling will give passengers spatial clarity in all areas; large,
small, busy or quiet, to reduce stress and improve wellbeing and comfort. This flexibility ensures the
airport is always at its best and suitably presented as the principal gateway to and from Taiwan to the
rest of the world.
The terminal 3 building will be the first of a new generation, a highlight in the journey for new and
seasoned travellers alike. It will offer arriving passengers an equality of spatial experience to those
departing. Its rational plan arrangement is forecast to deliver minimum connection times of just 40
minutes, the best in the region, with simple way-finding and airside connectivity.