Oslo airport has opened its new airport extension which uses snow as a coolant and becomes the first to be awarded an ‘Excellent’ BREEAM rating.
The extension doubles the size of the airport existing terminal building, and has added features including a new 300 metre-long pier, 11 new gates, and new retail and restaurant outlets.
The airport’s rail station has been updated, “enabling 70 per cent of all passengers to access the airport by public transport”, and passenger flow has been improved to limit maximum walking distances of 450 metres.
Overall capacity has been increased from 19 million passengers per year to over 30 million, and the extension features a 300-metre skylight and curved glass windows on both sides, to limit the need for artificial lighting and “open up the view to the surrounding landscape and beyond”.
Other design elements include the use of green walls and water features, as well as duty free retail units “conceived as organic stone forms associated with Norwegian landscapes”.
Commenting on the expanded facilities Dag-Falk Petersen, CEO of Avinor (the state-owned operator of the airport) commented:
“We have invested NOK 14 billion (£1.3 billion) in this expansion, and it will make Norway more competitive on an international level. It is important for Norway to have a well-functioning hub, which Oslo Airport is to us, and the profit from this is used to finance the rest of the Norwegian aviation network.
“We are very proud of the fact that the expansion has been completed without really affecting the passengers, and that Oslo Airport has been named the most punctual airport in Europe three times during this period”.
The extension was designed by Oslo-based practice Nordic-Office of Architecture.
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