Thailand plans to add $1.8 billion terminal at Bangkok's main airport
By Bloomberg Pursuits, September 25 2018
Bangkok’s main airport is planning to add a stunning A$1.8 billion terminal with extensive wooden cladding and an indoor forested landscape.
Tropical forests inspired the blueprint for the building and the aim is to give travelers a feeling of Thailand’s uniqueness, 52-year-old architect Duangrit Bunnag said in an interview. However, he rejected concerns from the Engineering Institute of Thailand that the structure could be a fire hazard.
“Airports tend to have similar features – they’re white, cold and metallic,” Duangrit said.
“I wanted a design that immediately gives travelers the feeling they’ve arrived in Thailand. It will be a metal structure covered with wood. Different treatments can be applied to the timber to ensure fire resistance.”
Duangrit’s design features sweeping arches and giant columns clad in wood. He also proposed an enclosed tropical-forest landscape spanning about 16,000m² between two buildings of the terminal. Passengers would be able to see but not to enter the landscape, a symbol for ecological protection.
“The difficulty in designing the terminal is how to make it memorable to travelers from around the world,” Duangrit said. “How do I make it look different to all the other airports?”
Airports of Thailand, the biggest Asian airport operator by market capitalization, announced last month that it was awarding the design contract to a joint bid by Duangrit Bunnag Architect and Japan’s Nikken Sekkei.
The state-controlled firm expects to boost annual passenger capacity by 30 million by building a second terminal at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi international airport. Construction is due to start next year and finish by 2021.
A tourism boom is straining the country’s infrastructure, putting pressure on officials to tackle bottlenecks. Foreign arrivals could hit 40 million next year – equivalent to more than half the population.
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17 Sep 2015
Total posts 371
On my most recent visit earlier this year, I waited about 50 minutes in the BKK immigration queue.
05 Oct 2017
Total posts 526
Agreed. It's not very efficient, however, anything is better than Don Muang, which, both in the past and today still sees hour long waits as standard. Last year 3-hour waits at that airport's immigration line made the news. Suvarnabhumi, despite it's faults is far more efficient but needs to improve it's efficiency further. Extending the e-gates from Singaporean and HK passport holders to all nationalities that are eligible for a 30-day visa exemption (Aussies included) would certainly help. Probably won't happen for another year or two though.
08 Sep 2018
Total posts 26
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
09 Feb 2015
Total posts 388
But in Thailand they might finish quickly, but you can guarantee the quality won’t be fantastic. Not to mention they don’t maintain infrastructure as they should. The existing terminal is very tired looking considering the age of the building.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Aug 2014
Total posts 213
Yes it's amazing what you can achieve when you pay the laborers a slave wage, ignore employment rights, and do away with workplace safety.
Qantas - Qantas Frequent Flyer
28 Aug 2014
Total posts 213
I applaud the unique nature of the architecture; a very exciting and ambitious airport design!
Given the climate in Bangkok, I imagine it's going to be a nightmare trying to regulate the temperature in this all-glass-facade terminal.
The current BKK airport terminal is quite warm inside, to the point of being uncomfortable on the top departure level. The building design has a lot of covered areas to provide shade and reduce glass surface area, but still doesn't stop the building from acting like a giant greenhouse.
09 Jul 2012
Total posts 25
Very true @ausJCP, but I'd go further than say it's just 'warm'. At times, it's absolutely hot inside. The glass covering is only one reason though; the other is the sheer stinginess of A.O.T. who refuse to set the aircon to its optimum levels.
05 Oct 2017
Total posts 526
They must have started last year already because as of late May 2019, the terminal looks more than half finished. Doubt that Bloomberg got their dates right. As is often the case in Thailand, construction could be finished quickly but the terminal won't open for a while afterwards. Seen the same thing happen with a new cross border bridge in NW Thailand. Bridge was officially opened by Thai and Burmese PMs in March, but almost 3 months later, still no indication of when it will actually open to traffic. Apparently Burmese side is lacking computers! Yes, but rather than donate the computers, both sides prefer to have locals and tourists have to dodge their way around 4-5km long traffic snarls causing by trucks waiting to cross the border, when a perfectly good bridge with far more parking space is available instead.
Thai Airways International - Royal Orchid Plus
15 Sep 2018
Total posts 2
Very busy always queues,but older folk get the quick lane! Always helpful staff!
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