China's huge starfish-shaped Airport opens in Beijing

Zaha Hadid Architects’ huge starfish-shaped multibillion-dollar airport opens in Beijing.

Beijing Daxing International Airport, a five pronged building that is one of the largest passenger terminals in the world, has been has completed.

Designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and current studio principal Patrik Schumacher, the 700,000-square-metre airport has been designed to be as compact as possible.

Daxing International Airport in Beijing, China, said to have the world’s largest single-building terminal, opened yesterday 25 September in a ceremony attended by the Chinese president, Xi Jinping.
Beijing is already served by two airports: Beijing Capital International Airport is visible northeast of the city centre, while Beijing Nanyuan Airport, China’s oldest, will soon cease public operations.

In this animation containing Copernicus Sentinel-2 images from 2016 to 2019, the fast-paced construction of the huge Daxing International Airport can be seen.

Designed by the late architect Zaha Hadid, the starfish-shaped terminal is expected to handle more than 70 million passengers annually by the year 2025. Daxing is predicted to soon become the world’s busiest airport.