Pininfarina and AECOM won the international design competition for the regional Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower and technical building at the Istanbul New Airport. The winning entry marries influences from the aviation and automotive sectors, with strong architectural design.
The ATC will be the landmark for Istanbul New Airport, which is set to be the world's largest new airport in terms of annual passenger capacity. The competition scope was to deliver the concept designs for the tower, showcasing contemporary sustainable architectural design that reflects the multi-cultural and historical characteristics of Istanbul city.
The AECOM and Pininfarina design evokes the aerodynamic forms used in automotive and aviation design, and includes an elliptical tower that will be visible to all passengers flying in and out of the new airport. The tower shape is inspired by the tulip, which has been the symbol of Istanbul for many centuries and is an important cultural reference in Turkish history.
"In this competition, our aim was to combine the dynamism and romance of Pininfarina's architectural style that is so influenced by automotive design with AECOM's in-house aviation architecture capabilities," commented Jennifer Dixon, head of architecture, Europe, Middle East, India and Africa, AECOM. "The AECOM and Pininfarina team has created a beautiful and highly functional piece that rekindles the excitement and glamour of modern air travel at the crossroads of Europe and Asia."
Bernardo Gogna, senior vice president and director of global aviation, AECOM, said: "Our approach to this competition was to combine the expertise of a different design industry with AECOM's in-house aviation architecture and engineering capabilities. Our goal was to bring Pininfarina's values, which are grounded in tradition and craftsmanship, to the world of aviation. The result marries pure iconic beauty with true innovation."
"The Istanbul ATC for the New Airport is an iconic building, destined to become a landmark for Istanbul," said Paolo Pininfarina, chairman of Pininfarina. "Our aim, as with all our projects, was to develop a bespoke idea that embodied our partner's design identity while at the same time bringing a new aesthetic perspective. By leveraging the unique combination of our 85 years' experience in design - from cars to superyachts, and from luxury products to furniture - with our architectural knowledge gained from several projects around the world, we have been able to create a technologically advanced structure of distinctive character."