This design for an airport in South Bend, Indiana looks to what the future of travel and transportation may look like thirty years into the future. Inspired by grand exhibition halls of the past like the Galerie des Machines of Paris and the Crystal Palace of London, this airport plays with the balance of the solid and the crystalline to create a building that is simultaneously as light as air and as solid as the Indiana limestone that forms its base.
The layout of the airport utilizes a change in level to separate the landside and airside concourses. This allows the ground floor to contain the airport check in, security, and baggage claim while the upper floor houses the eight gates (including two international gates) and a large, light-filled grand hall complete with vintage airplanes suspended over the foliaged floor below.
The design of the airport takes into account the intense seasonal changes that South Bend experiences by reflecting and amplifying the colors and variations of each. The site itself, being situated at the end of a grand park in the reimagined core of South Bend, creates a beautiful progression that celebrates the experience of the pedestrian traversing the site.
The interiors of the airport utilize the same light steel members of the facade to construct the columns and trusses that span between the masonry framework of the structure. The ultimate goal of the building is to create experiential spaces that elevate the transition from ground to air while contributing a beautiful landmark to South Bend, a jewel at the northernmost tip of the redesigned site.
