While China’s southern city of Shenzhen may be in the shadow of neighboring tourist destinations Hong Kong and Macau, it didn’t prevent the Shenzhen’s Bao’an International Airport from embarking on an ambitious US$1.4 billion project that has increased its capacity to 45 million passengers annually. For a sense of scale, the new Terminal Three of Shenzhen’s airport is about 30 percent larger than London’s Terminal Five and took about a quarter of the time to construct in just five years. Italian architecture firm Studio Fuksas designed the manta ray-inspired building with branching ramps and honeycomb skylights, imbuing the 500,000-square-meter facility with a thoroughly futuristic feel. The honeycomb pattern is repeated subtly in the three-floor structure with modern imaginings of air conditioning units that appear as trees. Despite reports of initial growing pains as the terminal adjusts to its new facilities, the first plane took to the sky November 28 via local carrier Shenzhen Airlines.

For more information, visit Shenzhen Bao’an International Airport