BUDAPEST, March 21, 2011 – Budapest Ferihegy Airport’s SkyCourt, connecting the airport’s 2A and 2B terminals, has been awarded the annual Tierney Clark Award for Best Civil Engineering Project. The award was established in 2000 by the Institution of Civil Engineers (UK), the Hungarian Chamber of Engineers, and the Hungarian Association of Consulting Engineers and Architects. It is named after William Tierney Clark, the British civil engineer who in 1839 designed the Széchenyi Chain Bridge, the first bridge linking Buda and Pest across the Danube.
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| © Tibor Seidl |
The completion of the SkyCourt, which was officially opened on March 18, represents the first phase of a larger expansion currently underway at Budapest Ferihegy Airport. The inspiration for the SkyCourt’s curved design was that of open hands greeting or bidding farewell to both arriving and departing passengers. The 32,000 m2 SkyCourt includes a basement, arrivals and departures area, and a gallery with shops and other services.
The judges praised the SkyCourt for its quality of design and construction, and innovative engineering solutions. The winning tender for the design and construction of the foundations and steel structures was submitted by general contractor KÉSZ ÉPÍTŐ Zrt., and led by László Szalados. The architectural design team, led by Zoltán Tima of the Tima Studio at KÖZTI, used Archicad Teamwork to ensure seamless collaboration among the architects and designers. “Our team consisted of anywhere from 4 to 10 people, and Archicad Teamwork helped everyone stay on the same page throughout the design and construction phase,” Tima said.