Kansai Airport : A Timeless Vision.

The Kansai International Airport is located on an artificial island in the middle of Osaka Bay, 38 k.m. Southwest of Osaka Station, off shore of the cities of Sennan and Izumisano and the town of Tajini in Osaka Prefacture, Japan.

In the 1960s, when the Kansai region was rapidly losing trade to Tokyo, planners proposed a new airport near Kobe and Osaka. Osaka International Airport, located in the densely-populated suburbs of Itami and Toyonaka , was surrounded by buildings; it could not be expanded, and many of its neighbors had filed complaints because of noise pollution problems. Initially, the airport was planned to be built near Kobe, but the city of Kobe refused the plan, so the airport was moved to a more southerly location on Osaka Bay. There, it could be open 24 hours per day, unlike its predecessor in the city. Local fishermen were the only group to protest, but they were silenced by hefty compensation packages

It is one of the groundbreaking projects of 21st century was built on a manmade island. The Kansai International Airport (KIX) currently occupies an area of approximately 510 hectares of sea area off the shore of Senshu in Osaka Bay. In addition, a third phase of construction is planned for the future, which would increase the total area of the airport island to 1,300 hectares and increase the flights up to 300,000 a year with the addition of a third 3,500 meter auxiliary runway.

It is hoped that with the construction of the additional runways and facilities, the Kansai International Airport will become an international hub that will increase global economic and social activities, and play a positive factor in reflecting the economy of Osaka and the greater Kansai region.

Supported by Arup, Italian architect Renzo Piano designed the mile long elegantly arched terminal passenger terminal building at Kansai Airport at Osaka in Japan. Arup provided structural, mechanical, electrical and fire engineering services for the passenger terminal building, designed to accommodate 25 million passengers per year passing through a total of 41 aircraft parking bays. A unique feature of the structural design is the innovative differential settlement correction system which levels the floors of all facilities to mitigate the effects of any differential land settlement on the man made island on which the airport is situated. The KIX second phase construction involves the reclamation of land from 542 hectares of public waters northwest of the airport off the shore of Senshu. The second phase of construction incorporated a 4,000 meter runway parallel to the existing one. Results of the preliminary test and survey show that this phase of construction would be much more difficult than the first, as the work involves building the second runway over deeper water with softer ocean ground and with the projected time period for construction being only one year longer than the first phase. The construction started with the arrival of large crane ships for the placement of the 14 buoy light towers and several survey buildings to enclose the appropriated sea lot to be filled with sand. The entire west wall facing the sea is constructed of glass so that the progress of the construction can easily be seen from the airport island.

Piano’s competition model showed a terminal building with unmistakable huge wings to either side. No mere ornament, they would create the necessary perimeter to accommodate 41 airplane bays and support the passenger moving system, shuttling people along the wings to and from departure and arrival gates. The need for sightlines from the control tower to planes precluded an extruded geometry for the wings, which is why they swoop down and away from the main terminal building.

Piano envisaged a building that was easy and intuitive to navigate; and the result is a huge four-story canyon, extending the whole 300-meter length of the main terminal building, lit entirely by daylight. Here, the close teamwork of the architect and Arup’s mechanical engineers paid dividends. The canyon’s glass ceiling was intended to allow natural light to illuminate a bamboo grove and other plantings 26 meters below on the canyon floor. The choice of glass housings for the elevators, and glass walls on either side and along the concourse corridors complements the airy brightness and enhances the passenger experience. The practical benefit is a relatively low energy requirement in comparison with artificial lighting.

In the main terminal building, the open-air ducts that allow the air movement also act as light-reflecting panels suspended between the long arch trusses supporting the roof of the fourth-floor international departures area. This reflected lighting reinforces the direction of passenger movement, as the panels connect the canyon to the wings. At the far side a huge glass wall faces the aircraft stands, so when passengers look toward airside the full-length curved façade reveals aircraft and the runway beyond. Even the roof shape itself suggests skyward movement.

The roof design has an elegant curved geometry, which in turn is determined by the line of sight needed by the control tower. To avoid the complexity and expense associated with three-dimensional curved construction, the Arup team used ‘toroidal geometry,’ rotating a constant two-dimensional shape around a large inclined circle to create the curved design. This means that each of the cladding panels and steel components repeat throughout the length of the building, allowing standardization of components, therefore, easing construction and lowering costs.

The site itself raised huge issues for Arup’s structural engineers and seismic experts. The terminal building needed to cope with the predicted sinking each year of the manmade island, and the possibility of earthquakes. The team proposed a ‘jack-up system’ to raise or lower individual columns to cope with differential settlement. This innovative settlement correction system has proved an unqualified success, coping with a differential of up to 300 millimeters in the first two years alone.

Other architectural features include the world’s longest runway at one mile and the world’s longest truss bridge at 3750 feet. This airport is considered to be an excellent transit airport as well, with a hotel (the Nikko Hotel) located right on the airport grounds as well as a number of sleeping lounges and amenities to ensure that one’s layover time passes pleasantly and very comfortably. With first rate service in all categories as well as renowned customer service, this airport ranks year after year as one of the most enjoyable airport travel experiences worldwide. The KIX passenger terminal is a single four-storey building designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop (Renzo Piano and Noriaki Okabe) and has a gross floor space of 296,043 square metres (3,186,580 sq ft). It is the longest airport terminal in the world, at a total length of 1.7 km (1.1 mi) from end to end. It has a sophisticated people mover system called the Wing Shuttle, which moves passengers from one end of the pier to the other.

The terminal's roof is shaped like an airfoil. This shape is used to promote air circulation through the building: giant air conditioning ducts blow air upwards at one side of the terminal, circulate the air across the curvature of the ceiling, and collect the air through intakes at the other side. Mobiles are suspended in the ticketing hall to take advantage of the flowing air.

The ticketing hall overlooks the international departures concourse, and the two are separated by a glass partition. During Kansai's early days, visitors were known to throw objects over the partition to friends in the corridor below. The partition was eventually modified to halt this practice.

Having met the exacting standards of Japan’s seismic building regulators, Kansai Airport faced its first test within a year of opening. The Kobe earthquake struck in January 1995, measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale, and its epicenter was just 20 kilometers away from the airport. The sliding joints in the building’s construction were entirely successful in protecting the terminal building and its occupants from the earthquake. Not only was the main building unscathed, but the cladding and the glass windows also remained intact. Just three years later, in 1998, the building survived a typhoon with wind speeds of up to 200 kilometers per hour and three-meter storm surges.

Kansai has been marketed as an alternative to Narita Airport for international travelers from the Greater Tokyo Area. By flying to Kansai from Haneda AAirport and connecting to international flights there, travelers can save the additional time required to get to Narita: up to one and a half hours for many residents of Kanagawa Prefacture and southern Tokyo.

The Millau Viaduct Bridge : The bridge with Butterfly delicacy.

The present time has been well described as the age of bigness with people vying to create the ever largest things. What was considered the ultimate and most gigantic of its kind in the past, has in most cases been surpassed.

The Viaduc de Millau Bridge, situated in southern France across the Tarn gorge, is the final link in 210 mile A75 highway from Paris to Barcelona in Spain. Before the bridge was built the traffic had to crawl through Millau down the 2.6 k.m. valley creating a bottleneck. After decades of deliberation, the French Govt. approved a design prepared by Sir Norman Foster jointly with French bridge engineer, Micheal Virlogeux which would preserve the ecology and scenic beauty of the landscape. The work started in October 2001 by Eiffage, the company which built the world famous Eiffel Tower. It has been on seven piers each having 16 sections. Each section weighs 2453 tons and measures 56 feet (17 meters) by 13 feet (4 meters). Yet it is much lighter than similar other bridges, presenting a unique fusion of size and strength with a sense of lightness.

Spanning the huge gap from one plateau across the valley to the other end and crossing the Tarn River, was an unprecedented problem. The designers and engineers, therefore, decided to use seven piers instead of usual two or three. The piers have different heights ranging from 75 meters to 235 meters. The piers were sunk in shafts, made of reinforced concrete in a pyramidal shape. They rise to a further 90 meters above the road deck of the bridge. Below the roadway each column splits into two thinner columns forming an A – frame above the deck. This gives the bridge necessary flexibility and creates a dramatic silhouette and results into minimizing the interference with the surrounding picturesque landscape. The bridge suspended over the Tarn River faces a lot of stress. It is exposed to the hot summer sun and freezing winter winds. The split piers allow the highway deck of the bridge to expand or contract by approximately 10 feet.

Intriguingly, the Millau Viaduct Bridge is not straight. The bridge has a 20k.m. curve. The road on the bridge also has a 3 degree incline. The slope descends from the southern end of the bridge towards the north. These enable the drivers to have a better visibility and reduce the odiousness of driving. The deck of the bridge is stayed by 154 cables in a semi harp formation.

The construction design of the Millau Viaduct Bridge is such that it required for lesser materials and kept the structure lighter than other possible designs. Still the gigantic structure required 205000 tons of concrete. This included 19000 tons of steel – reinforced concrete. The total weight of Millau Viaduct Bridge has been estimated at 290000tons. It has a deck with 2 – lane road. This lane provides greater security while driving across the bridge. It prevents the drivers from seeing the deep valley while driving and from possible height – phobia.

Suspension bridges are prone to very severe adheres effects of high winds. In July 1940, when it was complicated, the design of first Tacona Narrows Bridge, built near Seattle in the U.S.A. was considered the most advanced and a trendsetter for suspension bridges, praised for its lightness, grace and flexibility. However, soon its excessive grace and flexibility gave its deck a wave like motion. It began to be called “Galloping Gertie” and became something of local dare to drive cross. On November 7, 1940, hardly four months after completion, it was hit by a moderate 45 miles per hour wind. This gave it a strong sideways twisting in addition to the usual lengthwise waves and, in a short a span of time as 45 minutes, the road deck of the bridge broke apart with sections of it plunging into the river below. The Millau Viaduct Bridge has been built on much improved designs on a much improved design tested in wind to pass through, such winds can cause the vehicles passing the bridge to sway uncontrollably. To prevent this, the road deck has been covered by a 10 feet high transparent plastic shield on both sides. This reduces the wind speed on the road to the level of that on the ground.

The Millau Viaduct Bridge was built at a cost of Euro 400 million, i.e. within the budget and in a record time of 38 months, i.e. one month before the schedule. At its 343 meters it is 43 meters higher than Japan’s Akashi Ksikyo Bridge. In the words of its designer Lord Foster, the Millau Viaduct Bridge seems “to rise out of landscape with the delicacy of a butterfly”.

Falling Water : A house that straddles a waterfall.

“ Falling water is a great blessing – one of the blessings to be experienced here on earth, I think nothing yet ever equaled the coordination, sympathetic expression of the great principal of repose where forests and streams and rock and all the elements of structure are combined so quietly that really you listen not to any noise what so ever although the music of the stream is there. But you listen to Falling water the way you listen to the quiet of the country…..”

--- F . L. W.

The Falling water is renowned for its simplicity. It is not a sky scarper, it is a house situated in a remote section of Pennsylvania called Bear Run. The ingenuity of Falling water is its harmony with its surrounding natural elements, most notably the water fall.

Built for Pittsburg department store owner, Edgar J Kaufmann, whose son, Edgar Jr. was a Taliesin fellow, Falling water is dubbed as the most famous modern house in the world. A bold originator and worshipper of simplicity, Wright realized the powerful sounds of the falls, the vitality of the young forest, the dramatic rock ledges and boulders were the elements to be interwoven with serenely soaring spaces of his structures.

The view of the house is most famous of all. The house hovers right over the rushing mountain stream in perfect harmony. This house is a series of stone and concrete shelves jutting out over 30’ – 0” curtain of tumbling brook. The stream that scrambles sparkling down the path of rebellious boulders behind and above it passes the tinkling underneath.

This organically designed private residence was intended to be a nature retreat for its owners. The house is well known for its connection to the site. The Falling water thus was opened by broad bands of windows, people inside sheltered as in a deep cave, serene in the sense of hill behind them. Their attention directed towards the outside by low ceilings, the luminous textures of the woodlands, rhythmically enframed. The materials of the structure blended with the colorings of the rocks and trees, while occasional accents were provided by bright furnishings, like wild flowers or birds outside. The paths within the house, stairs and passages, meandered without formality or urgency, and the house hardly had a main entrance; there are many ways in and out. Sociability and privacy were both available, as were comforts of house and the adventures of the seasons.

Wright’s views of what would be the entry have been argued about; still, the door is tucked away in a corner and is rather small. Wright’s idea of the grand façade for his house is from the perspective of all the famous pictures of the house, looking up from the downstream, viewing the opposite corner from the main door.

On the hill side above the main house is a four –car carport (though Kaufmann had requested a garage) servants’ quarters, and a guest bed room. The attached outbuilding was built one year later using the same quality of materials and attention to detail as the main house. Just uphill from it is a small 6’ 0” deep swimming pool, continually fed by natural water, which then overflows to the river below. Through a visual trick comparing the swimming pool walls with the landscaped beyond, the swimming pool appears not to be level; it is, in fact, level. The carport was, at the direction of Kaufmann, Jr., eventually enclosed for use by Falling water visitors, who generally gather there at the end of guided tours. Kaufmann Jr., designed the interiors himself but to specifications found in other Falling water interiors designed by Wright.

Falling water’s structural system includes a bold reinforced concrete cantilevered balconies, however, the house had problems from the beginning. Sagging of the concrete cantilevers was noticed as soon as the formwork was removed at the construction stage. The Western Pennsylvania Conservancy conducted an intensive program to preserve and restore the Falling water. A study indicated that the original structural design and plan preparation had been rushed and the cantilevers had significantly inadequate reinforcement. As originally designed by Wright, the cantilevers would not have hold their own weight. Given the humid environment directly over running water, the house also had a mold problem.