The results of the international competition for the project of the new terminal of the Simferopol airport were announced at the end of June this year. Out of nine bids submitted by architectural firms from Germany, England, Russia and other countries, a project by the Korean bureau Samoo Architects & Engineers was selected, which is expected to be implemented by 2018. We have already talked about the UNK project tender proposal for the Simferopol airport. The project of the architectural studio of A. Asadov was also made within the framework of this architectural competition, within the framework of the same requirements: the new terminal should become a visiting card, the new face of Crimea; the organizers insisted on a powerful ideological component of the project, recognizable features associated with the peculiarities of the place.
So far, the Simferopol airport, the large-scale renovation of which has already begun: two terminals and the international sector have been reconstructed, is devoid of a recognizable architectural image and is even boring. The new building is planned to be built between the two runways. Just a few kilometers from this place, there is one of the main transport interchanges to Yalta and Sevastopol, nearby are the main highways of the peninsula - the Evpatoria highway and the Moscow highway. In addition to the new air terminal, a hotel, a business center and other infrastructure facilities will be built.
The architects of A. Asadov's studio paid special attention to the artistic component of the project. Having thought over the functional structure and high-tech content, they proposed an image that is read almost instantly - an image of a flight, a bird, a swallow, as if for a minute crouched between two long and straight runways. The swallow appears here as one of the symbols of the Crimea, recalling the "Swallow's Nest", the postcard castle of Baron Steingel on a cliff above the sea.
The outlines of the bird can be clearly traced when viewed from above, when approaching the city. The main similarity is the long, forked dovetail, directed towards the open car parks. In the tail there are pedestrian galleries under a canopy, leading from the parking lot and public transport stops to the central entrance. There is a park in the triangular bosom of the bifurcated "tail" - not every airport can boast of its own park, and there is also a large decorative reservoir, located closer to the terminal building. And this is not just an element of improvement. The authors have placed in the middle of the water surface a huge pearl depicted on the emblem of the Crimea. And on its mother-of-pearl surface, they suggested depicting Scythian patterns with a story about the history of the peninsula.
The wings of the bird symbolize long and narrow side galleries diverging in both directions from the center. But the role of the swallow's body and its head, as if turned towards the city, is played by the roof over the main terminal building. Volumetric and rounded, it is speckled with light lanterns in the form of large and small glass triangles, raised above a light metal plane.
From the side of the aircraft, the glass façade of the building is actually built in a straight line. Only in the central part is it noticeable that the volume protrudes slightly forward. The canopy of the roof begins its rise from here - from the inclined canvas of the wall, taken away by white vertical slats - and rises above the central volume either by a steep sea wave, or by a gentle mountain slope. The light and laconic facade from the side of the take-off field is replaced by a volumetric and moving image from the side of the central entrance. From here, the swallow's head rising above the building looks like a wind-filled sail. The thin roof edge and solid glazing only enhance the similarity. The pedestrian galleries diverging from the entrance area together with the “hills” of the arrival and departure zones form something like a quiet bay of a rocky coast. The smooth curves of the building echo the silhouettes of the Crimean mountain peaks.
The architects explain that the terminal building develops the best features of southern architecture. So, one of the prototypes of the pedestrian gallery was the famous arcade of the Simferopol railway station, designed by the famous Soviet architect Alexei Dushkin. In front of the building - also traditionally - a spacious square has been formed. A chain of undulating awnings, flowing one into another from the entrance to the square and further to the park, form a continuous promenade for passengers and those who meet them.
Transforming the airport from the outside into a swallow building, the architects continued the contextual story inside. The high arches of the airport halls are reminiscent of Crimean grottoes and caves, although, unlike caves, there is a lot of light here, penetrating through numerous light lanterns - the lanterns are triangular, and spots of sunlight on the floor form a whimsical, constantly changing ornament. The complex configuration of the vaults is formed by a light ring-shaped structure that encircles slender columns evenly spaced throughout the hall. As they approach the ceiling, the rings expand, and the whole structure thus becomes like the crown of a fantastic tree. The hall turns into a kind of forest. "Trees" glow softly. In addition to the artificial forest - the interior of the waiting area, the architects proposed to create a real tropical greenhouse at the airport - a reception that is not uncommon in airports these days - with a panoramic view of the takeoff field.
Caves and a forest, water with a symbolic pearl, a metal swallow bird in the silhouette of the airport - all this, meeting and seeing off passengers, should form a recognizable image of Crimea for many, a place with which a lot is connected. Perhaps too much.
