Most beautiful airports

[Quickstatus]

Hot on the Heels of the Worlds safest Airlines is the much more pompous Worlds Most Beautiful Airport 2025

Prix Versailles has come up with the Worlds most beautiful airports (among other "worlds mot beautiful". There was no worlds most beautiful airport lounge category.

Among the judges are an UN technocrat, pianists, 2 actresses, a fashion designer, an artist and 2 architects.
Im surprised Marc is not on the Jury panel given his amazing designs.
Could someone tell me what would an pianist and an actress know about good design?

And SFO T1 is the Prix Versailles Winner

 

[kookaburra75]

Hot on the Heels of the Worlds safest Airlines is the much more pompous Worlds Most Beautiful Airport 2025

Prix Versailles has come up with the Worlds most beautiful airports (among other "worlds mot beautiful". There was no worlds most beautiful airport lounge category.

Among the judges are an UN technocrat, pianists, 2 actresses, a fashion designer, an artist and 2 architects.
Im surprised Marc is not on the Jury panel given his amazing designs.
Could someone tell me what would an pianist and an actress know about good design?

And SFO T1 is the Prix Versailles Winner


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Interesting concept - I always fall back on Douglas Adams' definition.
“It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on Earth has ever produced the expression "as pretty as an airport". Airports are ugly. Some are very ugly. Some attain a degree of ugliness that can only be the result of a special effort. This ugliness arises because airports are full of people who are tired, cross, and have just discovered that their luggage has landed in Murmansk (...) and the architects have on the whole tried to reflect this in their designs."

 

[MEL_Traveller]

Possible exception to that would be the TWA terminal at JFK? Which is beautiful, inside and out. Maybe also CDG Terminal 1? Templehoff?

 

[billmurray]

KIX?

I don't recall anything at all special about that

 

[Quickstatus]

Which is beautiful, inside and out.

That is the problem. It is entirely subjective.
but I find the intersecting travelators interesting.

Airports are ugly.

Have airports ever been a monument that people go to visit because its there to be admired?

KIX?

Maybe they are giving points for the undulating steel trusses. And maybe bonus points because it was designed by Renzo?

 

[AIRwin]

Have airports ever been a monument that people go to visit because its there to be admired?

Jewel?

 

[Quickstatus]

Jewel?

That would be one, though there isn't a lot to see in Singapore after a few days.
Interesting yes for sure.

 

[RooFlyer]

Have airports ever been a monument that people go to visit because its there to be admired?

No, but you can incorporate good design into the most utilitarian building.

In Italy, in Tuscany, I visited several architecturally designed geothermal power stations. And yes, they did sort of blend into the countryside better than what they could’ve put there.

 

[Quickstatus]

No, but you can incorporate good design into the most utilitarian building.

Agree, but I dont know if there is a difference between architecturally good design and beautiful
KIX is an example of good design - the steel trusses opens up the space, even though engineering wise they underestimated the amount of sinking/settlement.

I think the design of the awning outside Departures DXb T3 quite nice.

 

[moa999]

While very very dated in parts I do like HNL as something totally different, and it's got brutalist vibes in part as well.

And I guess USM is it's much smaller Asian equivalent.