TAIPEI (Taiwan News) - After a tender for work on Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport’s Terminal 3 failed to attract enough bidders last month, the project might face a thorough redesign, reports said Saturday.
The plan for 130,000 aluminum tubes in the shape of flowers suspended from the ceiling of the terminal’s departure hall might have to be abandoned, according to a Central News Agency report.
Following the second failure of the tender, the Taoyuan International Airport Corporation (TIAC) presented a report on the terminal project to the new transportation minister, Wu Hong-mo (吳宏謀).
He told CNA that the had asked the company to present a proposal within three months for a redesign which would not negatively affect quality, image and budget.
According to TIAC, the ceiling design could be changed, but it still had to be worked out how this could happen without affecting its original functions of lighting, broadcasting and surveillance.
British design team Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners won the bid for Terminal 3 in tandem with Taiwan’s CECI Engineering Consultants, Inc. The design represented traditional Taiwanese roof tiles as well as the waves of the ocean, the mountains and the clouds, CNA reported.
The tubes would be designed to lower noise and reflect natural light in order to save on electricity costs.
The deadline for the terminal’s completion has already been moved from 2020 to 2022, with its budget standing at more than NT$79 billion (US$2.5 billion) ,with the ceiling amounting to more than NT$1 billion (US$32.5 million) of the total.
The new terminal is designed to handle 20 million passengers a year, and once its satellite areas are completed, the total will rise to 45 million a year, according to CNA.