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The Distributed Terminal

Part 2 Project 2014
Radu Gidei
University for the Creative Arts | UK
The modern airport is a shed. Everything one needs in order to fly is under one, big, and sometimes beautiful, roof. What started out as a convenient way to fly is now a convoluted & slow process, akin to a maze.

This brings us to the question, what if the airport and its infrastructure were dis-assembled and then scattered along a robust transportation framework?
In other words, what if the terminal was distributed ?

Such an airport would re-focus on minimising passenger travel time and maximising efficiency at every stage of the journey; a journey that now begins the minute one leaves the house. This paradigm shift makes it possible for the entire system to adopt a just-in-time strategy, where passenger movements and operations are co-ordinated and precisely choreographed. Compared to the maze that is the modern airport, the distributed terminal is more akin to a factory assembly line, with the passengers at the heart of it all.

But what does this model do to the passenger experience ?

Imagine dropping off your luggage at Waterloo, going through security whilst on the train and boarding the plane the minute you arrive at the gate : no dwell time in-between and no queues.

This is the distributed terminal.

Radu Gidei

Tutor(s)
Mr John Bell
2014
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