traveller with a tale

Image via Wikipedia

I had the pleasure of spending the day with one of my most long standing (not oldest, he’s younger than me, and really not very old) friends, Yosef Silver (t) who was on a stopover in London. I picked him up at Heathrow, we spent the afternoon traveling around North West London in search of a decent Kosher meal, and ended up back at the airport where we he wanted to take some photos of planes. After capturing some awesome shots from the long stay car park just behind the runway I thought we should head over to Terminal 5, since I had heard so much about it’s wonderful architecture.

I was, I will admit, somewhat excited about Terminal 5. Airports are a fairly big bug bear of mine and I have been known to choose flights based on what airport they are flying in or out of simply to ensure that my experience is remembered for the right reasons. For example I will avoid Luton at all costs, but gladly travel through Stansted. Why? Because Stansted airport is a pleasure to travel through, you’re never confused as to where you are, where you are going or what is around you. It’s a smooth transition from check-in, to security, shopping, gate, and finally  air side. Luton on the other hand is a maze of twists and turns, at one point you do a giant loop as you head up stairs, round a corder, through security, round another corner, and eventually you are lost and facing a giant No Entry sign.

But I’m getting off point, back to Terminal 5. The alleged beauty is hidden behind a concrete behemoth that is the car park. Instead of being treated to the majesty of a giant gleaming glass and steel structure, designed to inspire the traveller, you see nothing but a the raw wall of a car park.

They had free reign when designing terminal 5 and they chose to spoil it by doing what they have done at all of the Heathrow Terminals, hiding the front behind a carpark. Why? They could have sunk some of it into the ground, or spread it wider, so that atleast some of the building could be seen on approach. Or they could have placed the carpark next to the terminal. Instead they left the side vista in the open (which, incidentally, is only visible from small sections of the ring road, and not on approach to the terminal.)

All that remains to say is that next time we build a nationally important terminal, find a proper designer, like Normal Foster!