A tricky construction project
The four-year project, begun in 2009 and completed at a cost approaching NT$3 billion, has given the airport a completely new look. But anyone who understands construction knows it must have been incredibly difficult to refurbish a building that more than 30,000 travelers were passing through each day.
Terminal 1 had once been derided in the media as “the most backward in all of Asia.” So how has its rebirth been achieved? The story starts 34 years ago.
Terminal 1 first went into service in 1979, and at that time was part of one of the most advanced international airports in Asia. Its “H” shape, for example, influenced the design of the subsequently built Changi Airport in Singapore and Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok.
After 30 years in operation, however, the building was showing signs of age, and came up sorely lacking when compared with Terminal 2, which was completed in 2000.
Samuel Lin, the president of Taoyuan International Airport Corporation, admits quite frankly that Taiwan had long seen its airports only as transportation hubs, and clearly paid insufficient attention to such things as maintenance, rest and leisure facilities, and duty-free shopping. The idea of designing facilities with the customer foremost in mind wasn’t much of a concern. A service-oriented approach was lacking, and our airports just couldn’t compare with those elsewhere in Asia.
For example, says Lin, both Narita Airport in Japan (1978) and Changi Airport (1981) have been in operation for over 30 years, “but at both of those airports, they put a tremendous amount of money and thought into such questions as how to improve service quality and upgrade systems and physical facilities. Such new ways of thinking didn’t guide the process at Taoyuan International, which is why it had fallen behind.”
In 2004, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC) Tourism Bureau held an international competition titled “New Taiwan by Design” to decide who would be awarded the design contract for a planned refurbishment of Terminal 1 at Taoyuan International. The winning entry was submitted by Japanese architects Norihiko Dan and Associates. In 2007, the MOTC’s Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) started planning the project, and actual construction work got underway in 2009.
Each of the departure lounges designed by Ever Rich Duty Free Shop features its own unique theme, including such focal points as down-home Taiwanese cuisine, images from around Taiwan, and the nation’s postal service. The Hello Kitty world clocks and telephone booths are especially popular.