During us
stay in Stuttgart, the visit of the Stuttgard airport impressed me.
Stuttgart
airport is located approximately at 13 km in the south of Stuttgart.
It was
expanded after World War II. The runway was extended of 1,400 m to
1,800 m (5,906 ft) in 1948, then to 2,250 m (7,382 ft) in 1961 and
finally to 3,345 m (10,974 ft) in 1996.
This airport
is the 6th most important of Germany with 10,1 million of
passengers in 2006. However the extension of the traffic of the
airport is limited because he has only a single runway.
Stuttgart
airport was built with particular architecture. In fact, the
architects made every effort to create an airport
environment-friendly. The first thing they looking for is the roof
which is tilted in a special way to allow to pass rays of sunshine
during the winter to warm the place and thus minimize the use of
electricity. During the summer, the roof creates shadows and thus
refreshes the space. Moreover the luminosity is assured by the
sunlight reducing the use of electricity and to optimize it, pillars
were minimized and strengthened with branches, they look like trees.
We can also
deal with the use of energy. In fact 90% of the used energy is
product by solar panels, compared to equipped houses which use less
than 15% it is an exploitation important and profitable of this clean
energy.
Finaly,
buldings are also equipped of green roof and around 50% of the site
are green spaces which helps to counterbalance greenhouse gas
emissions.
So Stuttgart airport is more than an simple airport, it is a strong
symbole of this city because it combies tansport and écology, which
demonstrates the wish of this city.
By Jeyabalan Yohesan
