Pininfarina + AECOM to design Istanbul New Airport traffic control tower

Pininfarina and AECOM recently won the competition to design the regional Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower and technical building for the Istanbul New Airport. The competiton certainly didn't lack strong entries from other big-name firms, with the winning proposal beating submissions by Zaha Hadid, Massimiliano Fuksas, Moshe Safdie, Grimshaw-Nordic and RMJM.

The competition organizers praised the tower's aerodynamic forms typically found in automotive and aviation design – a strong signifier of Pininfarina's handwriting with decades of experience in that field, creating iconic designs for Ferrari, Alfa Romeo, Maserati and BMW.

Read on for more information about the winning design.

"The ATC will be the landmark for Istanbul New Airport, which is set to be the world’s largest new airport in terms of annual passenger capacity. The competition scope was to deliver the concept designs for the tower, showcasing contemporary sustainable architectural design that reflects the multi-cultural and historical characteristics of Istanbul city."

"The AECOM and Pininfarina design evokes the aerodynamic forms used in automotive and aviation design, and includes an elliptical tower that will be visible to all passengers flying in and out of the new airport. The tower shape is inspired by the tulip, which has been the symbol of Istanbul for many centuries and is an important cultural reference in Turkish history."

"The design competition is the latest win for AECOM at Istanbul New Airport. Earlier this year it was appointed by İGA to deliver designs for all the airside works at the airport. The new airport will have an initial capacity of 90 million passengers per year. It will be located on the European side of the city, 35 kilometres from the centre on a site adjacent to the Black Sea. Subsequent planned phases will expand the airport to include six runways and three terminal buildings. When all phases are complete, the airport will have an annual capacity of up to 200 million passengers."

"İGA is a consortium of five leading Turkish contractors comprising Cengiz, Mapa, Limak, Kolin and Kalyon. İGA was awarded the concession to build Istanbul New Airport as the engineering, procurement and construction contractor and will also be the operator. In October, İGA secured a €4.5 billion loan from a group of six banks for the first phase of the project."