Local students help shape terminal

Students at Western Sydney University’s School of Built Environment will be involved in the design process for the Western Sydney Nancy Bird-Walton International terminal.

The concept artwork for the $5.3 billion project’s terminal was released last month when the Federal Government announced London-based Zaha Hadid Architects and Sydney’s Cox Architecture as the successful applicants.

Western Sydney Airport CEO, Graham Millett, said the 40 firms that took part in the terminal precinct design competition were required to outline how they planned to involve university students with a link to Western Sydney in the design process.

“We wanted this to be a genuine learning opportunity for local students in our region to be involved in this once-in-a-generation project and we’re thrilled the architectural team has already engaged Western Sydney University students in the initial concept design development,” Mr Millett said.

WSU School of Built Environment Dean, Professor Kerry London said its architecture students would have front-row seats as this iconic infrastructure project takes shape and would benefit from the experience of the teams at Zaha Hadid and Cox Architecture.

“This will undoubtedly have an invaluable impact on their future as architects,” Professor London said.

Cox Architecture Director, David Holm said the students had been “very authentic and articulate in expressing their ideas” during a recent workshop.

“They challenged our thinking and we were very impressed,” he said.

Importantly, the architectural team also engaged with local Dharug community members during the initial concept design development.

Mr Millett said the winning architectural team had created an outstanding concept.

“The brief was to design an airport that the people of Western Sydney can be proud of and provide a real sense of place that pays tribute to the natural landforms, history and features of Greater Sydney,” he said.

“While the exterior of the terminal complements the natural landscape beautifully, we’ve always said that our focus was on the customer journey within the terminal and that really shines through in these concept designs.”

Sustainability was another key criterion and the winning design stood out for its expansive use of passive design, taking advantage of natural airflows and lighting and efficient solar shading.

Western Sydney International will open in 2026 initially catering for up to 10 million passengers per year.

Take a look at the design concept video.

Read more about WSU involvement in the design.

Read more about the winning design.

Image: A design team has been chosen for the Western Sydney International terminal. The two architectural firms are working with WSU students to refine their concept.