Mexico City New Airport
Design: Mauricio Ceballos and Foster + Partners
Construction Lead: Mauricio Ceballos
Project Status: Cancelled
Project Year: 2023
Area: 743,000 m2
Location: Mexico City
Team: Foster + Partners, Arup, NACO, Gleeds, Three, Pragma, AKF, Gehry Technologies. Team led by Mauricio Ceballos for Foster + Partners.
In Spring 2014, the federal government of Mexico launched an invited international competition for the largest infrastructure development in Latin America under the leadership of President Enrique Peña Nieto.
In response to the needs and aspirations of the project, a team led by Mauricio Ceballos and Norman Foster designed the Mexico City Airport. The aim was to revolutionize airport design and the experience of traveling, creating a building and infrastructure that will not only perform for the duration of the 21st century, but that will also manifest into an icon for the country of Mexico throughout the rest of time. Mauricio Ceballos led a team of more than 600 architects and engineers dedicated to this project through all design stages and construction.
For passengers arriving, the Mexico City Airport will appear luminous from above, while upon vacating the aircraft they Will experience a vast, column-free space, uplifting and full of light. This “Airport of the
Future” is designed with inspiration from the past; the shape, the symbolism, the sheer monumentality of the building, are all drawn from Mexican art and architecture.
The architecture takes cues from the Eagle on top of the rock devouring the serpent, one of the most prominent symbols in Mexico.
For those picking up passengers, a lush Cacti Garden announces the entry to the terminal with the access road weaving like the form of a snake and the roof of the Terminal evoking the eagle with its wings opening to take flight.
The intense colors, characteristic of Mexican culture, bleed into the functional components of the intelligent membrane skin/building facade.
The Mesoamerican symbol of the sun is evoked within the central luminous vaulted hall. From the initial view from the sky and the car, to the awe-inspiring moment of making it inside, the architecture binds body and spirit, Mexico City and travel, technology and history, into a unified lightweight structure that evokes the excitement of traveling. As a necessary and important investment for the country’s future, the new Mexico City Airport is a single terminal which is strategized to minimize costs and maximize experience. The building is one continuous, almost streamlined membrane, that allows every visitor to Flow quickly and efficiently throughout. The structure is comprised of local lightweight materials and is systematized for a 4-year construction imeframe, as well as ideal for the soil conditions to minimize environmental impact. The proposed prefabricated system shall be manufactured in Mexico while using the country’s most advanced technologies available today in terms of strength, durability and efficiency. The coming together of global design talent and local innovation will allow for great spans and soaring heights, at one third of the mass and three times the span of a typical airport.
