Engineering in a computational design environment - New Terminal 3 at Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport, China

Shenzhen Airport’s Terminal 3 is one of the largest buildings in the world designed with parametrically controlled digital tools. These tools enabled the teams from Fuksas and Knippers Helbig to develop the free-form, perforated, double-skin building envelope into which a space truss structure is integrated. The inherent optimization potential of the iterative process not only facilitated the geometrical definition of a large number of unique, non-repetitive components, but also resulted in a successive performance improvement for the integrated structural system.
In a close collaboration with the architects, specific solutions were developed to provide sufficient structural integrity for the space structure, which is clad by the façade layers. These design interventions enable the mega-structure to withstand all impacting loads, such as high winds and seismic loads, without disrupting the transparency of the architects’ intended honeycomb-shaped perforations.
The design process of the new Terminal 3 clearly demonstrates how parametrically controlled design tools can offer the means to design new structures and envelopes that go beyond existing typologies.