The future of the new Mexico City International Airport has been left to a public vote to decide whether the construction is going to continue or not, announced by President-elect Andrés Manuel López Obrador last week.

Designed by Foster+Partners and Fernando Romero Enterprise (FR-EE), another large-scaled project may face with the end of construction for the new Mexico City International Airport, which is planned to be one of the world's biggest airports for Mexico City.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Andrés Manuel López Obrador will hold a survey or referendum in October 2018 to determine whether construction of Mexico City airport should continue, even though the construction has been ongoing at the site since 2015. 

Latest construction image of NAICM

Foster+Partners and Fernando Romero Enterprise (FR-EE) won an international competition in 2014 to design Mexico City's new international airport, which is the largest infrastructure development of Latin America and the world's most sustainable airport in Mexico City. 

Encompassing a total of 667,000 square-meters area in the city, the new terminal is aimed to be the new icon of Mexico city with its "never-before-seen" form, monumentality and high-level performance. 

Aimed to be completed in two phases over eight years, one third of the building - which means its mega structure responsible for supporting the terminal building - has already been completed. Besides, the first 4 columns are already raised at the center of the terminal, which will be comprised of 21 conical structures shaping the roof of the airport in total, according to FR-EE's latest announcement. 

López Obrador was selected in this year's elections by receiving 53 per cent of the public votes. During his campaign, he had said that the New Mexico City International Airport (NAICM) was mismanaged and exposed to an excessive and wasteful spending, and he had promised to shut down the project if he is elected.

"So we don't make the wrong decision the best thing is to ask," said López Obrador, according to The Wall Street Journal. "The Mexican people are not underage," he added. "They're an intelligent, wise people, and we're going with the democratic method."

The referendum is scheduled for the last week of October even though López Obrador will not formally take office until December 1 of this year. 

The project is estimated to cost US$13,3 billion in total, 60 per cent of of it is being funded by the Mexican government and the remaining 40 per cent planned to made up from bank loans and debt security. Stopping the construction on site will cause the money loss for the country, as US$5 billion of the money has already been spent on three years of work. 

The first phase of the airport, consisting of a terminal expected to accommodate 68 million passengers per year, has been planned to open in 2020. 

Image © Dbox 

NAICM is conceived to increase passenger numbers in 2028 and beyond, and its development will be the catalyst for the regeneration of the surrounding area. In 2062, the airport will add three more runways on a new site that will include six runways in total.

Defined as the "Airport of the Future", the design addresses to the history of Mexico City, while the structure's form, symbolism and shear monumentality refer to Mexican art and architecture. 

Image © Dbox

The terminal's scheme presents a closed structure resembling a marine animal spread freely on the site from upper scale. All program elements are solved within a continuous lightweight gridshell, embracing walls and roof in a single, flowing form, evocative of flight. When you look closer, it shines, scales up and gets light within its crystallised skin.

Regarding the decision of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, no official announcements have been made by Foster+Partners and FR-EE yet. 

All images courtesy of FR-EE, unless otherwise stated.

> via The Wall Street Journal