Zurich Airport, which opened in the 1950s, has always been one of the most important aviation hubs in Europe, and after many previous additions, an international competition was held in 2020 to replace the aging Dock A.

The winning project, designed by BIG, features a solid and modular structural framework composed of trusses. Located near the existing Airside Center and Terminal 1, it is defined by two main areas: the central hub, with shopping, airport services for arriving and departing passengers, and vertical circulation; and the pier with the gates, waiting areas, and the fixed links to the planes. The new Dock, expected to open in ten years, will include also the new air traffic control tower and to enhance the passenger experience, the interiors will use daylight as a natural wayfinding system.

Bjarke Ingels, Founder & Creative Director, BIG comments: “As airports grow and evolve and as international guidelines and safety requirements change, airports tend to become more and more complex: Frankensteins of interconnected elements, patches, and extensions. For the new main terminal of Zurich Airport, we have attempted to answer this complex challenge with the simplest possible response: a mass timber space frame that is structural design, spatial experience, architectural finish, and organizational principle in one”.