Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Dissertations that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9297-6630
Access Type
Open Access Thesis
Document Type
thesis
Degree Program
Architecture
Degree Type
Master of Architecture (M.Arch.)
Year Degree Awarded
2020
Month Degree Awarded
May
Abstract
The architecture of Airport terminals is unique in nature as it is linked with a wide range of concerns that go hand in hand to demonstrate the efficient functioning of the building. From an inconvenient mode of travel to the city center to the congestions in the security screening, concerns varying from urban design to systems engineering have an impact on the user experience. Along with these concerns, the spatial organization of the airport terminals accommodates various commercial, leisure, retail, and service-based spaces in addition to the core function of aviation. Where the guiding parameters for determining the spatial requirements are dependent on the projected life span, security restrictions, and other socio-political influences. An airport terminal is bound to maintain a stable balance between all of the above parameters and disruption in any of the above can cause major fluctuations in the performance of the airport terminals. According to the United States department of transportation, federal aviation administration(advisory circular 2014) the initial stages of the design for any existing or new airport are derived from the ‘Master planning report’. This report is comprised of airport layout, environmental studies, analysis of runway orientation, land use plans, activity forecasts, capacity analysis, estimates of facilities, and more. To achieve a balanced environment capable of satisfying the concerns of various institutions it is important that the positioning of each amenity is carefully curated and is designed to perform as expected for several years.
The vulnerability of terminal buildings to the technological and infrastructural changes is one of the main problems with the airports. This thesis attempts to analyze different components that cause airport terminals to be rigid to the changes. Following the performance analysis for airport terminals, this project proposed a design solution that exhibits a potential way of increasing the efficiency and life span of the airport terminals. While the flexibility of physical infrastructure is one of the ways to absorb the increasing congestions in the building, it also needs to be organized so that it can ease the tensions in a positive way and do not cause unnecessary complexities. To acknowledge this circumstance and find a fact-based resolution to this issue, this project proposes to work out a system of constants and variables where a series of elements can be retained for a comparatively longer period and be more stationary than the variables of the design that can be changed over a shorter period. Based on the analysis of airport terminals in general and a focused analysis of one particular location this project will propose a unique design solution for the medium hub airport terminals and provide a proof of concept by re-imagining the design of Bradley airport at Hartford.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/17544174
First Advisor
Kathleen Lugosch
Second Advisor
Sandy Litchfield
Recommended Citation
Mehta, Yash, "Adaptive Airport Architecture" (2020). Masters Theses. 920.
https://doi.org/10.7275/17544174
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/masters_theses_2/920
Included in
Architectural Engineering Commons, Architectural Technology Commons, Other Architecture Commons