A Paper Submission: Assistant Professor - UP Asian Institute of Tourism, Diliman, Quezon City
A Paper Submission: Assistant Professor - UP Asian Institute of Tourism, Diliman, Quezon City
A Paper Submission: Assistant Professor - UP Asian Institute of Tourism, Diliman, Quezon City
To the
ASIAN MEDIA COOPERATION AND CULTURAL EXCHANGE
2010 CONFERENCE
Virgilio M. Maguigad
Affilitations:
Assistant Professor UP Asian Institute of Tourism, Diliman, Quezon
City
Contact details:
Office 9818500 local 2798
Cellphone 09088995582
Email [email protected] ; [email protected]
Introduction
Nothing compares than traveling by air - the ultimate in earth bound transport
that propels humans in thin aluminum tubes up to 35,000 feet into the
atmosphere and let them find themselves in sometimes totally different environs
a few hours later.
Flying still generally evokes adventure and excitement. A plane on landing approach
That experience often begins and ends with an equally astounding human
achievement in design and construction - the airport. For some, the
improvements in transport has led thinkers to declare the end of geography and
others talking about the end of distance. (Flyvbjerg, Bruzelius and Rothengatter
2003)
While it is generally acknowledged that airports serve an almost utilitarian
purpose in pursuit of trade, governments around the world are scrambling to
allocate expensive budgets in a race to create the most cutting edge,
revolutionary, inspirational and invariably the most modern of airport
terminals.
(Dempsey
2000)
The
airport
has
assumed
prominence
in
The major airport in Manila has seen two transitions in terms of location
and has undergone a various reincarnations, mostly due to the demands of
commerce and global trade. Have we reached this level of hubris that has been
with the likes of Bangkok, Hong Kong, Incheon and Kuala Lumpur?
travelers who are captive experiential consumers of the airport services? Can
the existing operating terminals, NAIA 1 and NAIA 2 be considered as functional
or symbolic showcases? (As NAIA 3 is excluded as it is a relatively new addition
to the NAIA airport terminal system.) In what levels can these be considered as
showcases?
The airport can be rightly called a building that functions as a machine one that
provides an interface and processes passengers on its landside going into the
airside where the aircraft are parked. (Wells 1986) It varies in size and capacity
with some airports operating more than five runways at a time. It is a transport
building that takes its role beyond the obvious utilitarian purpose it serves and
celebrates physical travel, social and cultural connections.
A culture of
corruption pervasive in public works projects are of course is never far behind.
Airbridges at NAIA2 that connect the aircraft on the airside onto the landside of the airport terminal
In this vein, airport projects have become some of the most celebrated
civil works projects of all time. It has attracted some of the biggest and most
exciting architectural undertakings: Kansai in Osaka, Japan (by Renzo Piano),
Chek Lap Kok in Hong Kong (by Norman Foster), Kuala Lumpur, Incheon, Korea
and Bangkok Suvarnabhumi. All of these projects momumentality and
grandiosity would put Imelda Marcos Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex
(CCP), the acknowledged torch bearer of Philippine showcase architecture, to
shame at least in terms of sheer size.
Ironically, the more gigantic the newly completed airport projects, the more
it functions both as a machine and as enabler of cultural exchange and
economics. According to Airport Council International (ACI), a total of 3.5 billion
passenger movements were recorded in 2003. This translates to a total of 66.7
million aircraft movements (takeoffs and landings) that had to pass through
airports. (Page and Connell 2008)
The new airport developments across the globe serve as bragging rights
that firmly puts the host cities into the worlds social, cultural and economic radar
screen a showcase.
Brian Edwards (2005) puts it deftly, The airport is a cultural memory. It is the
story of modernity acted out in space, speed, light and flight. National image is
reflected more directly in the design of airports than any other building type, with
the passenger terminal the key element in the public perception. It is an
opportunity and a very tempting creative canvass for governments, planning
agencies, architectural firms and other stakeholders to consciously mold the look
of the airport according to prevailing tastes and design sensibilities. Thus, the
design mantra to evoke the spirit of flying is reflected in the designs of the Chek
Lap Kok and Incheon terminals of Hong Kong and Incheon, South Korea with its
terminal designs seemingly like a bird with outstretched wings in flight.
One need not look beyond our shores to find what prevailing notions of
what a cultural showcase an airport could become. The existing Ninoy Aquino
International Airport had its fair share of critics. Philippine Panorama (31 July
1994) mentions in a story:
Two years ago, incoming passengers from other regional
airports like Changi and Bangkok felt sad and utterly hopeless
at their experience at the NAIA. Not only is our 13-year old
airport international passenger terminal small and outdated, its
toilets smell to high heavens! Finally the exhausted
passengers had to barrel their way through a phalanx of
hawkers, transport solicitors, illegal porters and dips outside of
the congested arrival area. Because of these unnecessary
hassles, many departing foreigners swore theyd never set foot
at the NAIA anymore.
All travelers are consumers of place and the tourism industry that is
heavily dependent on airport infrastructure can rightly be called an industry of
selling experiences. Part of selling the tourism experience is to ensure that
seamless travel is available to visitors from the moment they arrive at the airport
terminal and governments and their government-owned airport corporations,
being responsible for such infrastructure, initiate these projects to ensure that
such experience is sold hook-line-and sinker the moment passengers arrive. It is
part of the phenomenon that is described as part of the frictionless society
where capitalism ensures that services needed is provided at the right place,
time, price and convenience. (Flyvbjerg, Bruzelius and Rothengatter 2003)
It is interesting to note that after the initial awe and astonishment that new
airport developments are accorded, the user-friendliness and the overall
efficiency parameters take over and could sometimes overshadow the initial
hoopla surrounding the opening of the airport.
.
The relatively new NAIA 3 (foreground) with the Makati skyline in the background
Gerard Lico (2003b) in his book, Edifice complex: Power, myth and
Marcos state architecture, offers some of the more interesting insights on
architecture, while not losing sight of the fact that former President Marcos and
his First Lady Imelda have used architecture to great effect in their pursuit of
showcasism. He says:
Mythologizing the past needs a concrete artifact and architecture plays
a major role in the mechanization of this process since it has been one
of the main reservoir of long-term memory.
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cultural showcase architecture revolves. Despite the fact that the NAIA or the
airport in general become functional showcases, it could not particularly shake off
the notion that it symbolically represents something more than meets the eye.
Reasons for the transfer in 1948 were fairly straightforward. The present
site in Paranaque and Pasay cities was expansive enough at 630 hectares. The
site has relatively flat terrain with less than 5% slope, elevated at seven meters
above sea level and an existing US Air Force base runway, the present domestic
runway 13-31.
kilometers and the secondary runway (Runway 13-31) is 2.3 kilometers long.
11
In 2001, the MIAAs vision for NAIA was, to make the Ninoy Aquino
International Airport globally competitive and at par with the best airports in the
world, where the facilities and services are of the highest standards and the staff
is made up of professional, dedicated and caring individuals. (MIAA 2000) In
2002, this changed to, The Hub of Choice of Asia.
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branding the terminal on the same level as the CCP complex in terms of
monumentalism and showcasism.
(It is interesting to note that at the same time in Manila, the Leandro
Locsin-designed CCP Complex was being constructed with some sections at
breakneck speed.)
In fact, there has been a total absence about the airport project in Licos
(2003b) seminal book on Marcos state architecture. There has been an absence
of a vigorous criticism that centers on the perceived symbolic weight that the
terminal conjures. Criticism in the later years focused heavily on the functional
aspects of the terminals design and operational capabilities, especially when
operating capacity was being reached, and eventually breached.
In August 1983, a little over a year after opening, the terminal has been
mute witness to one of Philippine historys tipping point with the assassination of
opposition senator Benigno Aquino who was returning from exile on board a
China Airlines flight. It is for this reason that the Manila International Airport has
been renamed Ninoy Aquino International Airport by virtue of Republic Act 6639.
The late senators blood that has been spilled on the tarmac virtually seals
the fate of the Locsin-designed terminal as a historical showcase although one
that is overshadowed by the likes of EDSA Shrine in Ortigas. Was this perhaps
the reason why critics refuse (by omission) to attach or extend the Marcos
edifice complex to this structure? Or it is for the simple reason of the terminals
relative accessibility and economic utility to the traveling masses that somehow
washes the sins of the patron?
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dictum, function follows form and rightly so because it functions like a funnel
from the main departure/arrival halls onto the departure and arrival gates.
The elevated approach from the Ninoy Aquino Avenue to the departure
area evokes the similar approach of the CCP complex from Roxas Boulevard.
The feeling of a massive overhang waiting to collapse but somehow defies
gravity by way of cantilevering at the departure level is quite similar to the feeling
when one is at the Philippine International Convention Center. For an airport
terminal, the design evokes less of the expectation of flight and seems to content
on hugging the ground.
That heavy feeling: the massive effect of a column-free departure area similar to that of the CCP complex
buildings
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The showcase mentality does not end however (or just plain economic
expediency) when Terminal 1 will be closed and the NAIA Complex will be
downgraded when the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport will be primed
as the new gateway for Luzon by 2015-2020. Plans are afoot to convert the
complex as the NAIA Business City- where the best deals take-off and land.
(MIAA 2000)
15
The nominal design capacity has been reduced to 7.5 million passengers
per year (5 million/year for domestic and 2.5 million/year for international
passengers). The original purpose of turning this terminal into a purely domestic
terminal will be realized when Terminal 3 just across runway 13-31 will be
opening possibly by end-2008.
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More than the functional rationality of the way the NAIA 2 has been
designed is the refreshing welcome that the building has been accorded by the
traveling public as well as the media. In a study conducted by the Japan Bureau
of International Cooperation (2002) of frequent fliers, it has found the following
results:
Two-thirds of both international and domestic passengers where aware
that the waiting times have been reduced for the departure check-in
period, for landing and baggage retrieval, and 60% to 90% of the
passengers appreciate NAIA 2s higher service level. The improvement
in service is perceived more on arrival than departure, more by
domestic passengers than by international travelers.
Does this mean that the NAIA2 has become a cultural showcase of
efficiency and better service for a traveling public that has so long endured the
bus terminal-like confines of the Manila Domestic Terminal?
Aside from the perceptions of service efficiency, the NAIA 2 has also been
a showcase of sorts for its refreshing use of the natural Philippine light in the
overall design concept. It is light-flooded with the entire structure seemingly
welcoming the sunny Philippine climate by letting the light in and keeping the
heat out. According to the MIAA, this has in fact reduced electricity consumption
compared to the older NAIA 1, although this is partly due to the fact that many of
the new facilities are more energy efficient.
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unchanging. Indeed, one can transplant NAIA 2 into the Makati or Ortigas setting
and wouldnt be out of place in the same way that NAIA 1 can always fit into the
generally heavy-set buildings of the CCP complex. Design, while important for
landmark buildings such as airports however become subservient to more
functional concerns as passenger comforts, convenience and capacity to process
the throngs of travelers who consume the place.
Increasingly, terminals like NAIA 2 are guided by the fact that travelers
need to get to and from their destinations in as much little friction as possible on
the ground. This friction is created when facilities that are meant to ease
passenger mobility create problems on the said mobility. NAIA 2 has not been
spared as the former design of the stairwells going to the arrival area (typically on
the first floor of the building) did not include escalators. The design oversight had
been corrected with the installation of the needed escalators.
The open, light-permeable glass curtain walls while not unique to the
Philippines has raised the bar of transport terminal design. However, such design
is always and would always be subject to the more pressing operational and
capacity issues, concerns and problems that would surely be encountered as air
passenger growth continues in the Philippines.
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Conclusion
Airports are de facto showcases for most countries and all perform the
same functions as transport terminals. However, it could not be insulated from
the visions of the governments that created it.
embrace of travel as social, cultural and economic necessities and airports have
become symbolic, stood witness and responded to the political and the all-too
pervasive economic pressures that airports have to play in the life of a country.
NAIA 1 is symbolic and witness to the countrys Martial Law past while
NAIA 2 presents a vision of what the country could possibly be clean, bright
and efficient. In both cases, the existing operating NAIA terminals functionally
and symbolically represent what is Filipino in terms of experience, culture and
responsiveness to the world that is literally flying into and out of the country.
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board the aircraft gates, park their cars or even use the toilets. Function and
design, in that order dictates how passengers the ultimate and the most direct
stakeholders of the said terminals are to determine if such become cultural
showcases or not.
References
20
_________. (1993, March 16) Government plans to make NAIA one of worlds
best. Manila Chronicle
_________. (1993, March 16) NAIA to be world class airport . Manila Bulletin
_________. (1993, June 16) NAIA: culture defeats infrastructure. Manila
Chronicle
_________. (1994, July 31) NAIA: In the midst of evolving into world class
airport. Philippine Panorama
_________. (2000, March) Enhancing NAIA as world class intl gateway.
Philippine Panorama
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_________. (2003, May 12) Fraport at wits end over NAIA 3. Philippine Graphic
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