Ottawa International Airport, terminal building interior
On the Borders
Kerr Lammie
Architectural expression through any ap- plied methodology engages and informs place through a specific dialogue. The act of enclosing place provides a boundary condi- tion, an edge, which gathers and focuses that narrative into generative ideas or forms that can be explored and defined through architectural exploration. A prescriptive method cannot capture and redistribute the nature of a specific dialogue from one place to another. Rather, a philosophical stance on place must be defined to guide research on its development. This approach as it relates to airports is based on the particulars of each city or country as opposed to the specifics of the physical site. Airport sites are usually chosen for their aerodrome capabilities, and as such are located on reasonably flat sites physically removed from their source of inspi- ration; the city. Their own context is neglect- ed in favor of the functional requirements of the aircraft and their movements, leaving the terminal to become a vertical impertinence within a horizontal plane. An immediate lack of context mixed with notional civic ambition is the usual starting point for most terminal projects.
Often borders are thought of as passive objects, or matter of factly just edges. However a border exerts an active influence. —Jane Jacobs
Airports are borders to our countries and cit- ies. The architecture of airports therefore can be representative of an entrance or portal to a certain place, the beginning and the end of journeys. The conception of airport terminals buildings has changed as their governance models devolved from federal to municipal and private entities, and with that change a greater civic dimension and a focus on self sustainability was added to the airport ter- minal. This in turn has the airport exerting a more active influence on the cities they serve.
Ottawa International Airport, waterfall
on |site 12
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