CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
The subject of
airport passenger domestic terminal
building must involve a discussion of transportation.
Transportation has
remained one of the most vital factors that influence the development of a
nation. The credibility of this statement has been proven over the centuries,
that if one decides to take a critical look at earlier civilizations, from the
time of early Egyptian civilization to the current civilized world, one will
discover that many of the great feats achieved during these civilizations would
have been impossible without one form of transportation or the other.By way of
definition; transportation (or transport) is the movement of people, animals
and goods from one location to another. Modes of transport include air, rail,
road, water, cable, pipeline and space. The field can be divided into
infrastructure, vehicles and operations. Transportation is important since it
enables trade between people, which in turn establishes civilizations.
Transport
infrastructure consists of the fixed installations necessary for transport,
including roads, railways, airways, waterways, canals and pipelines and
terminals such as airports, railway stations, bus stations, warehouses,
trucking terminals, refuelling depots (including fuelling docks and fuel
stations) and seaports. Terminals may be used both for interchange of
passengers and cargo and for maintenance.Vehicles travelling on these networks
may include automobiles, bicycles, buses, trains, trucks, people, helicopters
and aircraft. Operations deal with the way the vehicles are operated, and the
procedures set for this purpose including financing, legalities and policies.
In the transport industry, operations and ownership of infrastructure can be
either public or private, depending on the country and mode.
Transportation can be
broadly classified under three broad groups thus:
Land transportation;
Water transportation;
and
Air transportation.
Land transportation
is the most common and dates back to the beginning of civilization. Land
transportation can take various forms, which are dependent on the
sophistication, stage of civilization and development, and on the technical
stratum of the society in question. It can be by the use of animals (camels, mules,
horses, dogs, etc.) or by use of machines such as wheelbarrows, carts, cars
etc.
Similarly, water
transportation dates back a long time as humanity can recall. Water
transportation, as land transportation, has also been developed in complexity,
technical superiority, and usage.
Air transportation
has its origin in the 20th century. The superiority of air transport over the
rest can be attributed the reason behind its progressive growth and preference
as the safest modern mode of transportation.
1.1.0
BACKGROUND TO THE PROJECT
The airpot terminal
is a building at an airport where passengers transfer between ground
transportation and the facilities that allow them to board and disembark from
the aircraft. Within the terminal, passengers purchase tickets, transfer their
luggage, and go through security. The buildings that provide access to the
airplanes (via gates) are typically called concoures. However, the terms
terminals and concourses are used interchangably, depending on the
configuration of the airport.
Smaller airports have
one terminal while larger airports have several terminals and/or concourses. At
small airports, the single terminal building typically serves all of the
functions of a terminal and a concourse. Some larger airports have one terminal
that is connected to multiple concourses via walkways, sky-bridges, or
underground tunnels (such as Denver International Airport). Some larger
airports have more than one
terminal, each with
one or JohnmoreF.KennedyconcoursesAirport).Stillother larger(suchairports
haveasmultipleNewterminalsYork‟s each of
which incorporate the functions of a concourse (such as Dallas/Fort Worth
International Airport).
According to
Frommers, most airport terminals are built in a plain style, with the concrete
boxes of the 1960s and ‟70s glass boxes in
the ‟90s
and ‟00s,
with the best terminalsr,some,suchas makin
Baghdad International
Airport, are monumental in stature, while others are considered architectural
masterpieces, such as Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport near Paris or
Terminal 5 at New York‟s John. AFfew.
areKennedydesignedtoreflectAirportthecultureofaparticular area, some examples
being the terminal at Albuquerque International Sunport in New Mexico, which is
designed in the Pueblo Revival Style popularized by architect John Gaw Meem, as
well as the one at Bahiasde Huatulco International Airport in Huatulco, Oaxaca,
Mexico, which features some palapas that are interconnected to form the airport
terminal building.
Due to the rapid rise
in popularity of passenger flight, many early terminals were built in the
1930s–1940s and reflected the popular art deco style architecture of the time.
One such surviving example from 1940 is the Houston Municipal Airport Terminal.
Early airport terminals opened directly onto the tarmac: passengers would walk
or take a bus to their aircraft. This design is still common among smaller
airports, and even many larger airports have “bus gates” to accommodate
aircraft beyond the main terminal building.
1.2.0
STATEMENT OF ARCHITECTURAL PROBLEM
A functional airport
passenger terminal is meant to ease the stress encountered by airpassengers
during the process of air travel. Therefore the architectural problem of the
project is how best to provide an aesthetically pleasant, efficient,
economical, bigger and more modern domestic airport passenger terminal, with
good flexibility and expansion capabilities, to replace the outdated and small
existing airprot terminal at Makurdi for Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria
(FAAN).
1.3.0
AIMS
The primary aims/goals
of the design are as follows:
to provide/design a
suitable passenger terminal building in the Makurdi Airport which would potray
a good image of Benue State
to provde a passenger
terminal building as well as other auxilliary facilities with the necessary
tools requisite for air transportation activities as well as upgrade the economic
facet of Makurdi city.
to ensure these
facilities will streamline the productivity in the airport without interruption
or interference from each other or any source; and
to provide a design
that will adequately contain all the kinds of functions and activities
associated with air travel to be carried out in the airport which will be
expanded for this purpose.
1.4.0
OBJECTIVES
The principal
objective of this project is to provide Makurdi Airport with a ultra-modern,
befitting and function passenger airport terminal building which has been badly
absent since the construction of that airport and also to upgrade the landscape
around it and prescribe other salient facilities which have been omitted.
In appreciation of
the particular demands of the project, I opt;
To situate the
structure in an ideal location that easily catches eye sight from around the
environment and can be easily accessible to staff, air travellers, as well as
visitors;
To ensure good road
network that create easy flow of vehicular and human traffic;
To consider the
environmental consequences as far as they are not a detriment to the proposed
development.
To minimise costs by
putting construction techniques, and employing materials within the level of
technology that is commensurate with our national aspiration.
To ensure flexibility
and adaptability for future changes in use of facilities or space;
To ensure efficient
security within and around the facility premises;
To ensure the
terminal building, the parking lots and other auxilliary facilities are
strategically placed for easy accessibilty from one to the others;
1.5.0
RESEARCH METHODOLGY
The required
information for proper planning and design of a domestic passenger terminal
that will raise the quality and standard of the Makurdi Airport will be
obtained through primary data; direct interviews with personnel or
representatives of existing airports in Nigeria which basically are FAAN
officials, porters on the airport grounds and locals residing around the
airport vicinity, case studies, library research, and internet surfing. The
emerging ideas and opinions or results are manually organized. On site physical
survey will reveal the statistical data inherent of the site venue and will be
gainfully utilized.
1.6.0
PROJECT MOTIVATION
The Federal
Government of Nigeria has, in recent times, moved a motion for the rebranding
of the Aviation Industry to upgrade the facilities within airports owned by the
Federal Government as well as check the activities of private parastatals
within the Aviation Industry. Previously, the airports in the Federation have
been either dilapidated or grounded that no aviation activities take place in
such airports. It is to this end that the Federal Government has moved to build
or renovate existing terminal facilities in the airports within the federation
listed below:
Enugu Airport
(re-christened Akanu Ibiam International Airport), Enugu, Enugu State;
Gen. Yakubu Gowon
Airport, Jos, Plateau State;
Nnamdi 999Azikiwe
International Airport, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory;
Sam Mbakwe Airport,
Owerri, Imo State;
Makurdi Airport,
Makurdi, Benue State
1.7.0
SCOPE AND LIMITATION OF THE PROJECT
This scope of this
thesis is restricted to the passenger terminal building within the airport and
NOT the entire airport as a whole. This is to say that the work involves the
only the landside of the airport (and not the airside) which includes the
terminal building and auxiliary (supporting) facilities within the landside
premises. These are briefly listed below:
v Exterior elements:
Terminal building;
Well-defined road
network;
Parking lots;
Signs;
Fire station;
Motel;
v Terminal building:
Entrance hall;
Departure lounge;
Arrivals lounge;
Baggage reclaim hall;
Outbound baggage
hall;
Shops and snack bars;
Conveniences;
Supporting office
spaces.
1.8.0
PROJECT JUSTIFICATION
The passenger
terminal building is chosen and located in the Makurdi Airport premises, which
is a domestic airport in Makurdi, Benue State, for the following reasons:
The existing terminal
building on the site is small and outdated;
Aviation prospects in
the state of project location is terribly poor;
The existing facility
has no provision for future expansion.
1.9.0
RELEVANCE OF PROJECT
This rearch will help
to contribute and extend the frontiers of knowledge in the academic development
of aviation architecture. It also exposes all aspects of professional details
and necessary techniques of scientific investigation in this field.
In other words, this
guide provides the basic criteria to organize, evaluate, plan, programme and
design airport terminal facilities. The information presented is intended to
make researchers aware of important design considerations and to aid them in
project.