aecom pininfarina air traffic control tower istanbul new airport designboom 01
a design by AECOM and pininfarina has been chosen as the winner of an international design competition for the regional air traffic control tower and technical building at the istanbul new airport. the scheme was selected ahead of strong entries from international architectural teams, including zaha hadid, fuksas, moshe safdie, grimshaw–nordic, and RMJM. the win marks AECOM’s first collaboration with pininfarina, the design house renowned for its car designs for ferrari and alfa romeo, among others. the collaboration combines the expertise of AECOM’s architectural and engineering teams with pininfarina’s architectural style — naturally influenced by automotive design.

 

the tower will serve as a landmark for the vast development, which is set to be the world’s largest new airport in terms of annual passenger capacity. the competition scope was to deliver the concept designs for the tower, showcasing contemporary sustainable architectural design that reflects the multi-cultural and historical characteristics of istanbul city. the form of the design is influenced by the tulip, which has been the symbol of Istanbul for many centuries and is an important cultural reference in turkish history.

 

jennifer dixon, head of architecture, europe, middle east, india and africa, AECOM, said: ‘in this competition, our aim was to combine the dynamism and romance of pininfarina’s architectural style that is so influenced by automotive design with AECOM’s in-house aviation architecture capabilities. the AECOM and pininfarina team has created a beautiful and highly functional piece that rekindles the excitement and glamour of modern air travel at the crossroads of europe and asia.’

 

paolo pininfarina, chairman of pininfarina, added: ‘the istanbul ATC for the new airport is an iconic building, destined to become a landmark for istanbul. our aim, as with all our projects, was to develop a bespoke idea that embodied our partner’s design identity while at the same time bringing a new aesthetic perspective. by leveraging the unique combination of our 85 years’ experience in design – from cars to superyachts, and from luxury products to furniture – with our architectural knowledge gained from several projects around the world, we have been able to create a technologically advanced structure of distinctive character.’

 

the design competition is the latest win for AECOM at istanbul new airport. earlier this year it was appointed to deliver designs for all the airside works at the airport. the new airport will have an initial capacity of 90 million passengers per year, and will be located on the european side of the city, 35 kilometers from the city center. subsequent planned phases will expand the airport to include six runways and three terminal buildings. when all phases are complete, the airport will have an annual capacity of up to 200 million passengers.

 

see designboom’s previous coverage of the project here.