Airport architecture
Introduction
An airport terminal is a building at an airport where passengers transfer from ground transportation and the facilities they contain to boarding and disembarking from airplanes.
Inside the terminal, passengers purchase tickets, check in their luggage, and go through security checks. Buildings that give direct access to the aircraft (via doors&action=edit&redlink=1 "Gate (aviation) (not yet drafted)")) are commonly known as departure lounge. However, the terms "terminal" and "departure hall" are sometimes used interchangeably, depending on the configuration of the airport.
Small airports have one terminal while large airports have several terminals and/or departure lounges. At small airports, the single terminal building typically serves all the functions of a terminal and departure lounge.
Some large airports have one terminal that is connected to multiple departure lounges via conveyors, walkways, or underground tunnels (such as at Denver International Airport). Some large airports have more than one terminal, each with one or more departure lounges (such as New York's LaGuardia Airport). On the contrary, other large airports have multiple terminals, each of which incorporates the functions of the departure lounge (such as at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport).
Most airport terminals are built in a flat style. However, some, such as Baghdad International Airport, are monumental in height, while others are considered architectural masterpieces, such as Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle airport near Paris or Terminal 5 at JFK airport in New York. A few were designed to reflect the culture of a particular area, examples being the Albuquerque Airport Sunport in New Mexico, which is based on the Pueblo Revival style popularized by architect John Gaw Meem, as well as the Bahías de Huatulco International Airport terminal in Huatulco, Oaxaca, Mexico, which features a few palapas interconnected to form the airport terminal.
Airport terminal designs
Contenido
Debido al rápido crecimiento de personas en vuelos de pasajeros, muchas de las primeras terminales fueron construidas en los treinta-cuarenta y reflejan el estilo arquitectónico popular en ese momento del art decó. Un ejemplo superviviente de 1940 es la terminal del aeropuerto municipal de Houston"). Las primeras terminales aeroportuarias abiertas fueron construidas directamente a nivel de suelo: los pasajeros debían caminar o tomar un autobús hasta su avión. Este diseño es todavía habitual en aeropuertos pequeños, e incluso algunos aeropuertos grandes cuentan con "puertas bus" para acomodar aviones más allá de la terminal principal.