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The design for Hainan’s Haikou Meilan Airport was born from an act of poetic translation: from the coral reef – the largest on China’s coast-to an architectural system capable of evoking it in a contemporary, habitable form.
The master plan is in two phases: to 2020, with the renovation of Terminal T1 and the new Terminal T2; to 2040, with Terminal T3 and the expansion of the entire accommodation and infrastructure system – for a hub of 20 to 40 million passengers. A gateway equal to one of China’s most outstanding destinations.
Key data
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Status
Key data
Figures
Status
Nature as a generative principle
Hainan’s coral reef – a rhythmic, layered, self-similar ecosystem – becomes the formal principle of the project. A large surface unfolds over the entire complex, defining a syncopated fabric of solids and voids that organizes spaces and functions in a single gesture. Architecture as nature: not imitation, but interpretation.
Marine light and sensory atmosphere
A unified articulation
The architectural skin of the terminal is a surface perforated by a variable system of skylights with organic geometry. Filtered light generates vibrations and shadows inside that evoke the underwater world. Passing through the terminal becomes an immersion: one does not transit, one inhabits a scenario.
40 Million Passenger Hub, One Identity. The central spine integrates mobility, accommodation and commerce-including a five-star hotel and control tower-into a coherent system in which each component speaks the same formal language.
Destination, not stopover
Scalability and vision
Hainan is a chosen, desired, expected place. The project responds to this vocation with a festive, light-hearted atmosphere in which the functional dimension of the airport merges with the experiential dimension of the resort, generating value for passengers and the entire regional tourism ecosystem.
The masterplan is designed to grow over time without losing coherence. The phased logic – T1+T2 to 2020, T3 to 2040 – responds to an incremental infrastructure development strategy, in which each expansion reinforces the identity of the complex rather than diluting it. An airport planning model that combines operational flexibility and architectural continuity, ensuring the landmark’s recognizability over time.
