Singapore Changi Airport’s new Terminal 3 (T3), which will open its doors in early 2008, will give passengers a whole new travel experience.
Singapore Changi Airport’s new Terminal 3 (T3), which will open its doors in early 2008, will give passengers a whole new travel experience.
The interior design and layout of the terminal was unveiled earlier this month at a ‘topping-out ceremony’ and the complex fit-out has commenced.
T3 (pictured right) is located directly opposite Changi Airport’s T2 and the 380,000 square metre terminal is a seven-storey building with three base-ment and four above-ground levels.
The new terminal features unique roof architecture, which will allow soft natural light into the building while keeping the tropical heat out.
The design has more than 900 skylights with specially designed reflector panels that will automatically adjust themselves to allow an optimal amount of soft and uniform daylight into the terminal building.
At night, the skylights will glow with artificial lighting concealed below the reflector panels.
Another key highlight of T3 is a five-storey vertical garden, dubbed the “green wall”. Spanning 300 metres across the main building, it can be seen from both the departure and arrival halls.
The green wall will be covered with climbing plants and is interspersed with four cascading waterfalls. More than 20,000sq m of floor space has been set aside for more than 70 retail and 30 food and beverage outlets.
T3 and its associated works will cost $S1.75 billion. It will have a handling capacity of 20 million passengers per year, bringing the total capacity of Changi Airport to 64 million.
The new terminal will be equipped with 28 aerobridge gates, eight of which will be A380-compatible gates installed with a third aerobridge arm for the upper deck.
Movement through T3 will be simple and natural, while the natural lighting will give an open and spacious ambience and passengers will have visual access to the external landscapes – a first for any airport.
Above ground, a new $S135 million automated people mover system (APMS) will be built to aid transfers between the three terminals.
The APMS will be a 10-train service running between seven stations along 6.5 kilometres of elevated train tracks. The trains themselves will feature dedicated areas for baggage trolleys and LCD screens in the train cabins will display flight times and other airport information.
A recent facelift for T2 included making it more user friendly for airport users and businesses and adding capacity to the transit area.
