MAD has revealed photos of the bird-like LIJ Airport nearing completion in the foothill valleys of Lishui, China. 

Named Lishui Airport, the 12,000-square-metre airport is set to open by the end of 2024. By fusing architecture with the surrounding natural landscape, the airport's design reflects the city's identity as a "forest city."

Image © Yongwei Liu

Drawn in a bird-like shape, the airport is part of the 2,267-hectare project. The airport needed to level almost 100 meters of elevation in order to accommodate the steep terrain in the area.

This resulted in a terraced layout that incorporates the terminal, parking, and office areas into descending platforms. This method guarantees a practical and effective design while honoring the land's natural contours. The terminal’s design conveys harmony with its environment. 

Image © Hello Lishui

"Lishui is a garden city, and her airport should also be in a garden," said Ma Yansong. 

"As a feeder airport, Lishui Airport shows another attitude as a public transportation facility in the city: not greedy for big, but pursuing convenience and humanity, and pursuing a dialogue with the natural environment," Yansong added.

Image © JK Wang

The aluminum panels that make up the terminal's silver-white roof, which is held up by 14 umbrella-shaped columns, reflect lightness like feathers. Its flowing shape keeps the building open while serving as an anchor. 

A central skylight illuminates the hospitable concourse created by the roof's 30-meter cantilever.

Image © MAD Architects

The interior is human-scaled and features wood-toned finishes to welcome passengers. In order to balance intimacy and openness, the concourse height changes from 4.5 meters at its lowest point to 13 meters at its highest. 

Arrival and departure areas are combined into a small, effective space by the "one-and-a-half-story" layout, which also features a double-height lobby to ensure seamless passenger flow.

Image © MAD Architects

From the parking lot into the terminal, a beautifully designed walkway connects passengers to their surroundings and improves accessibility.

Initially built as a domestic regional airport, Lishui can handle one million passengers a year and has three boarding bridges and five remote stands.

Image © MAD Architects

With space for 1.8 million passengers by 2030 and up to 5 million by 2050, the design accounts for future expansion. To ensure that the airport can expand with the area, plans have been made for an international terminal.

Image © MAD Architects

Image © MAD Architects

Image © MAD Architects

Image © MAD Architects

Ventilation diagram

Circulation diagram

Masterplan

MAD unveiled a preliminary design for the Lishui Airport in 2024. MAD revealed a mixed-use tower that features a cracked-open canyon in the heart of Denver, Colorado, United States. In addition, the Fenix Museum by MAD Architects topped out in Rotterdam with its iconic "Tornado", a dynamic structure that rises from the ground floor and flows out of the rooftop onto a platform.

Project facts

Project name: Lishui Airport
Location: Lishui, China
Date: 2018 - 2024

Site Area: 2,267 hectares
Building Area: 12,100 sqm
Building Height: 23.95 m

Principal Partners in Charge: Ma Yansong, Dang Qun, Yosuke Hayano
Associate Partners in Charge: Liu Huiying, Kin Li
Design Team: Sun Shouquan, Zhang Xiaomei, Peng Kaiyu, Yin Jianfeng, Zhu Yuhao, Yang Xuebing, Lei Lei, Sun Mingze, Luo Yiyun, Alan Rodríguez Carrillo, Punnin Sukkasem

Client: Lishui Airport Construction Headquarters
Architectural Design: MAD Architects
Executive Architects: CAAC NEW ERA AIRPORT DESIGN INSTITUTE COMPANY LIMITED
Interior Design: MAD Architects, Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Decoration & Landscape Design Research Institute CO., Ltd
Façade Consultant: RFR Shanghai
Landscape Consultant: Z’scape Landscape Planning and Design, Huadong Engineering Corporation Limited
Architecture and Landscape Lighting Consultant: Ning field lighting design Corp., Ltd.
Interior Lighting Consultant: Shanghai Xian Dai Architectural Decoration & Landscape Design Research Institute CO., Ltd
Construction: Beijing Construction Engineering Group
Video: JK Wang

All image © JK Wang, Liu Yongwei, Hello Lishui, MAD Architects.

Top image © JK Wang.

All drawings © MAD Architects.

> via MAD Architects

airport MAD under construction