Infrastructure & Aviation

Marseille Provence Airport

Project information

  1. Location Marseille, France
  2. Area20.000 m²

Project details

  1. Year2016 — 2017
  2. StatusCompetition proposal
  3. Partners Haptic
    Setec
  4. Client Aéroport Marseille Provence (AMP)
  5. Scope Airport planning and design

Two new volumes unite existing buildings

Comprising a terminal hall expansion with associated landside areas and a future pier, our concept was designed to unify the existing buildings and minimise disruption to operations.

Our proposal adds two new volumes to the existing airport terminal, along with a head house and pier. The head house is developed as a compact insert between the existing terminal buildings, linking the two historic terminals with a public hall. In the head house, check-in and reclaim capacity are added and a new central security control is established. The new pier evolves from a sleek and simple shape to a circular hammerhead for added international gate capacity and expanded retail and commercial development. The pier serves both Schengen and non-Schengen traffic.

The heart of the airport

The new insert becomes the heart of the airport, with its landside public hall linking together the two historic halls. “Our guiding principle is to establish an intuitive and efficient passenger experience throughout the terminal, uniting the different existing buildings into one functioning terminal building”.

Intuitive orientation

The external colonnade of the new insert is inspired by Fernand Pouillon's column line from the 1960s. With slimmer and longer concrete columns, the colonnade becomes an elegant addition that unites the buildings. The undulating shape and narrow spacing of the concrete beams in the ceiling of the head house filter the skylight to the areas below. The pier ceiling has a similar beam structure; oriented lengthwise, in the direction of the pier, helping passengers intuitively navigate to their embarkation point. At the end of the pier the ceiling is in sintered glass, allowing natural daylight to be diffused on the pavilion and in the rotunda, offering passengers a view of the Marseille sky. The facade of the pier is a simple glass curtain wall that allows passengers to see the runway and the lagoon Etang de Berre in the distance.