Located in a corridor between the Sheraton Airport Congress Center and Frankfurt Airport Terminal I, Fraport is an architectural intervention, designed to optimize traffic flows, connect various exterior spaces and increase presence and identity for the existing terminal and complex. The clarity of the roof’s form drives the organizing principles throughout the project. It is easily constructed, composed of fish belly shaped steel truss girders supporting a reflective aluminum clad roof with a underside wrapped in a textile membrane. Gil shaped openings, which open with greater intensity, extend along the entire length of the existing terminal and follow the rhythm of the existing roofs. The openings create a dynamic play of light which indicates direction of traffic flow and shifting visual perspectives as one moves through the airport terminal. Acting as both a canopy and rain cover, the roof offers connections to the existing departure levels and basement levels below. This freestanding canopy, with flexible connections to the adjacent buildings, allows for more sunlight, maintains connections between the arrivals and the departures, as well as provides a larger security buffer between the flow of traffic and the building itself. The high traffic areas are given a functional priority allowing for the optimization of additional traffic flows. This procession acts as a conceptual boulevard for millions of people visiting one of the most important airports in the world.

Client: Fraport
Location: Frankfurt, Germany
Status: Competition 2011
Concultants: Schlaich Bergermann und Partner, IB Schlegel
Design Team: Christos Chantzaras, Nick Benner, Daniel da Rocha, Martin Henn, Paul Langley, Biljana Lojanica, Klaus Ransmayr, Max Schwitalla