ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN Lefkovits believes that the most successful indoor-outdoor experiences are fully immersive. “The goal is to make passengers feel like they are in a garden, or even in the middle of a forest,” he says. “Every aspect of the design, from a careful selection of plantings to holistic lighting strategies, must harmonize together to create a multisensory experience.” Such a scenario awaits passengers in Kempegowda’s ‘forest-belt’ – a 90m-wide swathe of planted landscape between the gate concourses and the terminal building. “If time allows, passengers can traverse a network of bridges and outdoor walkways that provide a dramatic and immersive experience,” notes Lefkovits. Gate garden This year’s Passenger Terminal Conference will include a fascinating presentation from Fraport Bulgaria about its plans to create airside ‘gate gardens’ where passengers can relax and enjoy the view of the apron with a drink before boarding their flights directly. The operator will open gate gardens at two airports: a 1,600m 2 area at Varna and an 800m 2 space at Burgas. “The Gate Garden is a garden-like outside area on the airside, equipped with gates, commercial offers and resting zones for passengers,” explains Dr Frank Quante, CEO of Fraport Bulgaria. “The idea started as a pure outside terrace, designed beautifully and used as a place to relax closer to nature, but airside. “We then looked to increase functionality with the addition of commercial offers and finally the gates that allow passengers to stay outside and just walk to the aircraft, with no need to re-enter the building. For seasonal, tourist-driven airports like ours, this is an excellent solution. As this project was in parallel with the tender of our airside concessions, we also presented the idea to potential commercial partners – all of whom were hooked immediately and began contributing their own ideas.” Fraport Bulgaria expects significant energy savings by taking gate space outside. “I estimate we’ll cut our energy bills by 40%, mainly due to the lack of HVAC systems for the common and operational areas,” says Quante. He also anticipates a drastic cut in capital expenditure, which is set to reduce to around €750 (US$820)/m 2 , as opposed to €3,000 (US$3,282)/m 2 for a more traditional terminal extension. “The Gate Garden will increase the operational area of the terminal in Varna by 35% and the I estimate we’ll cut our energy bills by 40%, mainly due to the lack of HVAC systems Dr Frank Quante, Fraport Bulgaria Fraport Bulgaria will begin construction on a new ‘gate garden’ at Varna, later this year ABOVE & BELOW fraport bulgaria has planted more than 5,000 roses at varna and burgas airports commercial area by 45%. For Burgas, it is a 25% increase in operational area and a 35% increase of the commercial area. This outdoor approach has allowed us to handle the expansion of our traffic during our busiest period – the summertime. This passenger-centric initiative not only enhances the overall travel experience but also presents exciting avenues for commercial monetization, making the airport more than a transit point – a destination itself. Our projections show positive return on investment within a few years of operation, the result of optimized capex [compared with a fully enclosed terminal area] and opex, mainly by reducing HVAC operation in the summer, which is the high season for the airport.” When designing the outside spaces for both airports, Aleksandar Georgiev, head of planning, engineering and design at Fraport Bulgaria, had to consider both operational safety and the passenger experience. “As summer holiday airports with most annual traffic between May and October, we did a thorough analysis of all the major factors in play with an open-air solution – starting with traffic heat map analysis through to solar diagrams, as well as historical precipitation data to wind considerations,” he explains. “The design solutions are multifunctional, emphasizing a garden-like experience while providing operational flexibility. We also wanted to reduce our environmental impact – starting with the construction itself but also with procedures for the passengers, through savings on cooling and heating. We expect a win-win for our passengers, commercial partners, our company and the environment. Considering that the built environment generates nearly 50% of annual global CO 2 emissions, we hope this project will help others reconsider the norms for construction and airport infrastructure and challenge us to deliver more – sustainable, people-oriented and efficient architecture.” www.PassengerTerminalToday.com 56 Passenger Terminal World APRIL 2024