Madrid Barajas Airport
Madrid, Spain
Richard Rogers Partnership / Studio Lamela

Richard Rogers Partnership and Lamela choreograph the movement of passengers under a sensuously undulating roof

© Katsuhisa Kida

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By David Cohn

As approached from the barren foothills that border the river floodplain on which it sits, the new terminal of Madrid’s Barajas Airport is a glistening sea of roiling aluminum waves, its 25 acres of undulating roof barely held to the ground by its gaily painted supporting struts. Inside, vast halls and concourses stretch endlessly under this magic flying carpet, which extends protectively over glazed exterior walls.

“The vision to build big and bold came from the politicians,” confirms Simon Smithson, who headed the team from Richard Rogers Partnership for the project, which was jointly designed with Madrid’s Lamela Studio. “There is a strong desire here to raise the profile of Spain within the European Union.” The Spanish Ministry of Development viewed memorable architecture and generous passenger accommodation as essential to position Barajas as one of Europe’s key airport hubs. (The obsolete and overcrowded main terminal is already Europe’s fifth busiest.)

A 1997 competition for the terminal attracted teams led by Ricardo Bofill, Santiago Calatrava, César Pelli, HOK, Rem Koolhaas, Frank Gehry, and others. With his father Antonio, Carlos Lamela, principal of Lamela Studio, invited Rogers to join in a bid. Their combination of fresh international star allure—Barajas is Rogers’s first commission in Spain—and Lamela’s political connections with the reigning national government proved a winning one. The firms formed a single team for the project, an unusual collaboration that both describe as “exceptionally successful.”

Together with two new runways, the new terminal increases Madrid’s capacity from a current 25 million passengers per year to 70 million, with room for growth. The statistics are staggering: The main terminal covers 5 million square feet, with 174 check-in desks and 38 gates along a 3⁄4-mile-long concourse. Underground automatic trains convey passengers to a 3-million-square-foot, 26-gate satellite concourse. The project includes 9,000 parking spaces, mass-transit platforms, and highway connections. The price tag was a cool $1 billion (883.5 million euros).

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Formal name of Project:
Madrid Barajas Airport

Location:
Madrid, Spain

Gross square footage:
5 million sq. ft. (main terminal); 3.4 million sq. ft. (satellite); 38 gates total

Total construction cost:
$1 Billion

Client:
AENA

Architect:
Richard Rogers Partnership
www.richardrogers.co.uk

Studio Lamela