New airport concept has runways built next to apartments, offices

For anyone who has ever lived under a flight path, an architecture graduate’s concept airport design is the stuff of nightmares.

The design is of an airport located smack-bang in the city, with elevated runways connecting inner-city terminals between apartment buildings and office blocks.

Bartlett School or Architecture graduate Alex Sutton created the concept for Stockholm, using the growing city to test his “urban airport” idea.

The proposal, featured on Dezeen, includes elevated runways with track systems, so engines wouldn’t need to be used until take-off.

The tracks would produce less noise and emissions, according to the proposal, while the elevated runways would  provide adequate security and allow the airport to fit into the city centre.

“The track system is raised up to create a physical barrier between the city and airport infrastructure for security, but also to create a sense of the magic of flight, with these amazing machines passing gently above,” Sutton said.

He added that modern aviation developments also allow for more innovative airport design, “that provide a better relationship between the airport, the city and the traveller”.

Sutton’s proposal, called Stockholm City Airport/Airport City, turns the airport into series of smaller terminals and shorter runways which fit into the cityscape of apartments and offices.

Passengers would get to the airport via a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system – an elevated light rail series of pods – which would take passengers directly to their gates.

In the proposal, there would be multiple baggage drop locations around the city at PRT stations, allowing passengers to travel to the airport by public transport without the bother of carrying luggage.

Waterways underneath the runways would allow for ferries, and cycle ways are also part of the plan.

The airport was designed as part of a final year project at the London architecture school.