Fentress Global Challenge 2016 Shortlist Announced

  • NEW OASIS - DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

  • TOKYO CELLULAR AIRPORT - TOKYO, JAPAN

  • DESTINATION CDG - PARIS, FRANCE

  • HOVERPORT - MUNICH, GERMANY

  • OPEN AIRPORT - SAN FRANCISCO, CA

  • LAX NEXT GEN - LOS ANGELES, CA

  • DRAGON HEAD/HONG KONG AEROCENOSIS - HONG KONG

  • AIRPORT UNDER THE FOREST PARK - SHANGHAI, CHINA

  • VERTICAL HUB - WORLDWIDE

  • TOKYO, JAPAN - AIRPARK

  • FUNDAMENTAL FLIGHT - JAKARTA, INDONESIA

  • CARAVANSERAI - DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

  • FOLDING SPACE - HONG KONG

  • McCARRAN AIRPORT - LAS VEGAS, NV

Annual competition called on students to imagine the future of airports

November 1, 2016 (Denver)—Fentress Architects is proud to announce the shortlisted projects of the 2016 Fentress Global Challenge, its fifth edition of the international student competition.

This year the competition encouraged students to envision the Airport of the Future, designing speculative projects for a time in which airports will have ever-more significance as architecture for travel, leisure, national security and more. With over 600 student registrations from more than 50 countries representing universities in six continents, the competition generated interest worldwide.

This year’s jury features aviation experts and industry professionals, including Dave Gilmore, DesignIntelligence; Donald Albrecht, Museum of the City of New York; Curt Fentress, Fentress Architects; Lukas Feireiss, Studio Lukas Feireiss; Andrew Vasey, Vasey Aviation Group; Agatha Kessler, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University; and Tobias Nolte, Certain Measures.

Shortlisted proposals range from highly speculative visions of the future to practical adaptations that could be easily implemented today. Together, they reveal key trends and forecast where airport design might be heading.

Autonomous hovercraft technology re-hatches 1960s aspirations to improve the boarding experience in Munich, while urban aerial infrastructure comes to the fore in a futuristic proposal for Hong Kong. Terminal buildings cluster and rise into the sky or plunge underwater like the floating platforms proposed for Tokyo’s Haneda Airport.

Green and inventive strategies for the adaptive reuse of existing infrastructure seek to make Paris’ Charles de Gaulle more sustainable, while a model for skyscraper terminals revolutionizes aircraft landing in urban contexts around the world. Local tradition and craft inform Dubai’s vernacular vision for transportation in the region. And in Shanghai, takeoff runways built underground make way for lush landscapes and parkland around a new sculptural terminal building.

The winners of the 2016 edition of the Fentress Global Challenge will be announced in early 2017. The top prize is valued at $15,000 and includes a four-week paid internship at Fentress Architects. Second place will win $3,000 and third place, $2,000.