Project description

Angola’s socio-economic development has come to reveal the non-existent infrastructures and meagre facilities, many of which obsolete and/or damaged during the years of armed conflict. The existent airport was equipped with prefabricated unwholesome facilities that did not comply with the minimum requirements imposed by the current international aeronautical standards. Each and every structure integrating this new facility (air terminal, hangars, cargo terminal, fire station and areas dedicated to the ground crew, fuel farms, aprons, runways, taxiways, etc.) was developed in accordance with the international standards, maintaining both original civilian and military capacities. Among these infrastructures, the air terminal with four boarding gates is particularly noteworthy for its bold and emblematic architecture inspired in the local landscape. The characteristic design of the wooden front reinterprets the image of palm groves with misaligned trunks among which light flows.

The original Cabinda airport had a single runway that worked simultaneously as a taxiway, a situation which does not comply with the security and aeronautical ground circulation regulations.

The construction of an entirely new runway was proposed for Phase 1, converting the existing one into a taxiway and therefore assuring the minimal airworthiness requirements. Further expansion plans were scheduled for later phases (Phases 2, 3 and 4), based on the local data and indexes on the increase of air traffic. Phase 4 is intended to meet the maximum long-term needs of the territory, considering the present development rate.

In a project strongly conditioned by technical and operational requirements, A1V2 combined full functionality to unique aesthetics that reference elements of the landscape and local flora.

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Project File – Cabinda International Airport [PDF]