DOMESTIC AIRPORT TERMINAL BUILDING

 A CASE STUDY

MAKURDI AIRPORT TERMINAL BUILDING, MARKURDI, BENUE STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

  The subject of airport passenger 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

1.7.0  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 development.