Project:

Airport Engadin

Year:

2018 -

Client:

Infrastrukturunternehmung Regionalflughafen Samedan (INFRA RFS)

Location:

Samedan, Switzerland

Program:

Airport

Area:

33'000 sqm

Commission:

Invited competition, 1st Prize

architects:

Hosoya Schaefer Architects AG
Blarer & Reber Architekten AG

Planning team:

Dr. Lüchinger+Meyer Bauingenieure AG
Waldhauser+Hermann AG
Kuster+Partner AG
Balzer Ingenieure AG
IBV Hüsler AG
Scherler AG

Visualization:

Filippo Bolognese

Regional Airport Samedan – Porta Engiadina

Europe’s highest placed regional airport in the Upper Engadin (1,707 meters above sea level) will be modernized to meet the legal and regulatory requirements of a non-Schengen customs airport.

An airport for the valley

The Engadin valley exists as a world of its own, consisting of a vast, magnificent landscape and the people who inhabit it or stay there for a visit. The new airport building will be accessible to the valley and its community, provide space and connect them to the world. It serves hobby pilots and VIPs, the alpine service of Rega and Heli Bernina as well as events and exhibitions. For non-aviation guests, the restaurant, terrace and terminal with panoramic views to the airfield are easily accessible. The project offers quick links between its various functions. Operations are concentrated in a small space, activities are combined and made visible. Employees and logistics are located around the passage between the operation buildings air- and landside, while visitors enter the area via the terminal.

Grossform in the landscape

The volume of the first phase sits as a linear, sculptural figure on the wide valley floor. The monolithic appearance of the building in the landscape contrasts with the transparency and accessibility of it when being close. The precisely articulated envelope made of dark metal panels with a continuous vertical grid connects the functional units into a large uniform volume. However, the repetitive façade is differentiated through various openings, windows, entrances and openings to the airfield. Both the human scale and the scale of the landscape can be found in the building.

A building with tradition and technology, diversity and abstraction

The project is based on a clear master plan and a simple urban setting: functional units are arranged on a 30m wide band. The modular buildings with regular hangar sizes (20 m or 30 m deep) provide the greatest possible flexibility for planning and use. Four helicopter hangars in the South, parking and operations building airside in the North form two symmetrical wings. The operations building landside sits in the center as accent and landmark visible from afar. The hangars for wings and their additional program are defined in depth and appearance, but their exact height, length, function and phasing remains flexible. The landside operations building is the heart of the development.

Next to it is the terminal, which as a large, transparent hangar serves the valley as a gateway to the world. The terminal is not only the place for arrivals and departures but can serve also as foyer when hosting events and exhibitions. The building is organized vertically: on the ground floor the logistics with customs, handling and delivery; on the first floor all operational functions; in the second – the offices; in the third – restaurant, outdoor terrace and kitchen; in the fourth, the lounges and lodging, and finally the tower and roof terrace on the fifth floor. The slender structure – steel lattice trusses, which run in the longitudinal direction of the building, spans the open areas of the hangars and terminal. This is not only economically efficient but gives – tectonically and spatially – an aesthetic identity to the interior spaces.

Publications

Projects

Architecture

Herrliberg-Feldmeilen station, 2020 –
Current state: framework plan

Haus Myrte, Wädenswil, 2022 –
Current phase: tender

House Renovation, Geneva, 2021 –
Current phase: ongoing

Airport Engadin, St. Moritz, 2020 –
Current phase: construction project

Cooperative Housing, Wetzikon, 2020 –
Current phase: tender

Fabrik.sg, 2020 –
Current phase: Project phases design to operation

ZHA, Boulevard, Hönggerberg Campus, 2020 –
Current state: ongoing (with Studio Vulkan)

Wilhelmsburg Rowing Club, 2020 –
Current phase: execution planning

Primary School Christoph Merian, Basel, 2019 –
Current phase: construction project

Station Square and Roof, Herisau 2015 –
Current phase: tender

MEWA-Areal, Wädenswil, 2018 –
Transformation Project from the former industrial estate to the mixed-use development with housing
Current phase: framework plan

Viererfeld, Bern, 2018 –
Housing
Current phase: on hold

Urban Design

Bahnhof Romanshorn, 2022 –
Current state: study (with Sudio Vulkan)

Kaserne Aarau, 2022 –
Current state: urban framework

Areale Wittenbach, 2022 –
Current state: urban design commission

Stiftungsareal Neumünster, 2022 –
Current state: study

Kieler Schloss, 2022 –
Current state: Public think tank on usage and architecture

Campus Heidelberg, 2021 –
Current state: Masterplan process, in-depth studies

Otterbach Süd, 2020 –
Current state: urban framework plan

Innovation Park Bergedorf, 2020 –
Current state: urban framework

Station Area Dietikon, 2019 –
Current state: urban framework plan

Campus Bochum, 2018 –
Current state: project support

Metalli, Zug, 2017 –
Current state: project support

Bahnstadt Nürtingen, 2017 –
Current state: project support

Areal Neugasse Zürich, 2016 –
Current state: completion of master plan, public consultation

Elbinselquartier Wilhelmsburg, Hamburg, 2015 –
Current state: project support

Tech Cluster Zug, 2015 –
Current state: transformation plan

Station Herisau, 2013 –
Current state: areal development

KNZ Wil West, Thurgau / St. Gallen, 2011 –
Current state: project support

Urban System Research

Metaverse, 2022 –
Current state: ongoing

Entwicklungskonzept Würzenbach, 2022 –
Current state: ongoing

ESP Hochdorf, 2021 –
Current state: spatial-urban as well as use- and circular-based development concept

Deep Urbanism, 2021 –
Current state: ongoing

cividi gmbh – civic data intelligence, 2019 –
Digital tools for the analogue city
Current state: ongoing

Contact

Zürich office

Flüelastrasse 10, 8048 Zürich, Switzerland (Google Maps)
T. +41 43 243 6313 F.

GENERAL INQUIRIES: office@hosoyaschaefer.com
PUBLIC RELATIONS: press@hosoyaschaefer.com
CAREER: job@hosoyaschaefer.com (Please refer to our OFFICE > CAREER section for further information)

Kyoto office

Jimukinoueda bldg. 603, 21 Sakaicho, Gojo-Takakurakado, Shimogyoku, Kyoto 600-8191, Japan
T. +81 75 744 1503
office@hosoyaschaefer.com