Flying on the Edge of Sea, Land and Sky - A new passenger terminal for the Grand Bahama International Airport

Ever since the airport was conceived as a permanent building type, airport designers have debated what identity an airport should embody. As a threshold of first impressions, the airport should not only introduce the visitor to the local environment but also represent the identity of a country. The aim of this thesis project is to design an airport terminal that reflects the natural and cultural environments of the islands of the Bahamas. Through its architecture, this building attempts to create an engaging experience for its users: passengers, employees and visitors. Local culture and sense of place are abstracted through architectural ideas, realized in the language of contextual modernism. The synthesis of the themes and concepts explored throughout the design process are presented through drawings and commentary. Precedents such as the Taino cosmos, color and nature, place and culture are used to inspire structural systems, form and aesthetics. The plan of the new airport terminal fulfils the functional program while interpreting the land and sea formations of the Bahama islands; ocean currents and land-sea patterns may be associated with movements of people and machines, converging and diverging within the airport environment.