AIRPORT DESIGNS

San Francisco International, interior

Zurich Airport, 2004, which Grimshaw managed to double in size without increasing energy usage. Photo by Edmund Sumner/VIEW.

The waves in troof draw natural light into the new terminal while helping to define three distinct phases of each passenger's airport experience: check-in, security, and departure. Photo courtesy of Luis Vidal + Architects.

Madrid’s intensely spacious Barajas Airport, completed in 2005, includes a massive sequence of color-coded columns, each vaulting up to the bamboo ceiling from massive plinths.

Dulles International Airport, Chantilly, Virginia (1962)Eero Saarinen's expressive and theatrical structure was the first airport in the world designed exclusively for jets. Topped by a seemingly impossible swooping concrete roof, the structure is described in the documentary as a combination of "curvy Jet Age with the classical architecture of Washington DC." Sadly Saarinen never got to see the finished project, as he died of a brain tumor while it was still in construction.

Terminal 3, Beijing

Barajas Airport, Madrid