At the opening of BER: What will the airport of the future look like?

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Large airport in Beijing: gigantic starfish sculpture

Photo: Tuchong / Imaginechina / imago images

The public looks at the new main building of Berlin Airport - and overlooks the fact that the real future of flying can be seen right next door, in Terminal 2. Unlike the much-noticed glass main building, it looks like a warehouse or one of those almost windowless logistics centers somewhere on the highway.

The walls inside are bare concrete slabs, plus pipes, smoke detectors, sprinklers.

Cables hang from bare ceilings like in a factory.

But nothing is produced here, sooner or later passengers will be channeled through and processed here, then guided into planes over glazed bridges.

Fast, efficient, the building is an assembly line for people that leaves no room for sentimentality or grandeur.

The future of flying is a prefabricated building with the parts prefabricated and quickly assembled.

So the responsible construction company stayed on schedule and, if you disregard the initial miscalculation, also within budget.

The building cost 200 million euros and was ready in two years.

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