Barajas Bamboo Airport

Madrid’s Barajas Airport has a new terminal with undulating bamboo roof that is supported on ‘trees’ and aims to maximize use of natural daylight through eyelets in the roof. The work was developed by architects Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners. Treehugger reports:

Not one fluorescent tube, ugly ceiling tile or cold metal sheet roofing can be found here. The punctuated roof lets natural light in, through what looks like big friendly eyes, in a controlled way. RSHP say ‘while no specific environmental criteria were stipulated in the brief, the design team set out to maximise natural daylight to all passenger areas and reduce dependence on artificial light, while providing views out and reducing solar gain with extensive external shading’. The result apart from saving energy is a beautiful play of changing daylight along the bamboo roof and the rest of the interiors (thin tree-like columns and glass walls). When there’s no daylight, pools of electric lighting illuminate the spaces.

Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners