MCIA’s T2 vie for World Architecture Festival Award for Completed Buildings Transport Category

The Mactan Cebu International Airport Terminal 2 has been shortlisted for the 12th edition of the World Architecture Festival Award for Completed Buildings Transport category. /Contributed Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines—After the Mactan Cebu International Airport Terminal 2 (MCIA T2) was recognized during International Architecture Awards (IAA), it will now vie for the 12th edition of the World Architecture Festival (WAF) Award for the Completed Buildings Transport category.

MCIA’s T2 has been shortlisted for this category along with two other airports – Singapore’s Jewel Changi Airport and the Istanbul Airport in Istanbul, Turkey, according to a statement from GMR Megawide Airport Corp. (GMCAC). Five other transport buildings were also shortlisted.

“MCIA continues to be recognized globally not only because it embodies our positioning as a Filipino resort airport, but also because its design and quality of engineering allows us to deliver world-class service and operations,” said Louie Ferrer, president GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC), the airport’s private developer.

The design of MCIA’s T2 was led by Hong Kong studio Integrated Design Associates, with support from local firm Budji Royal and industrial designer Kenneth Cobonpue. T2’s exterior comprised of several arches with a span of around 30 meters and are made from glue-laminated timber and are joined by thousands of smaller wooden ribs to form a skeletal structure.

On the other hand, the designer of Jewel Changi Airport is Safdie Architects while the Istanbul Airport is designed by Grimshaw, Nordic-Office of Architecture, Haptic Architects; and Scott Brownrigg.

The World Architecture Festival will be held on December 4-6, 2019 in Amsterdam, Netherlands. There will over 148 judges from more than 68 countries for the different categories.

According to WAF website, the judges comprise of renowned architects and industry professionals with experience as WAF entrants, winners, speakers and judges who decided on a shortlist.

The presentations of shortlisted designs will be made before more than 100 international juries and in front of festival delegates. Category winners will then compete against each other on the final day of the festival, to compete for the ultimate accolades of World Building of the Year, Future Project of the Year, Interior of the Year and Landscape of the Year.

Recently, MCIA’s T2, along with the Incheon International Airport in South Korea, was named by the International Architecture Awards (IAA) as one of the 2019 International Architecture Awardee for Airports and Transportation Centers.

The IAA is organized by the ‘Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design’ and The European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies.

This year’s IAA was held in the Department of Architecture Vilnius Gediminas Technical University Vilnius, Lithuania. The winners came from 41 nations around the world, recognized across a variety of categories from airports to private houses. The projects were judged against a range of criteria including design vision, innovation, engagement, accessibility, and sustainability.

Last year, MCIA received three awards, one of which was Asia Pacific Medium Airport of the Year during the CAPA Aviation Awards for Excellence ceremony, one of the most respected awards in the airport and aviation industry.

Terminal 2’s airport bar The Cabin Bar by London-based travel F&B operator SSP was also recently named the Asia Pacific Airport Bar of the Year in the Airport Food and Beverage (FAB) Awards held in Dallas, Texas. The award recognizes the best in travel food and beverage worldwide. The Cabin Bar is the first ever full bar operating inside an airport in the Philippines./dcb