Driving-up, checking-in, passport control, shopping, waiting, boarding (and in the reverse order) are the stations and activities in an airport, which can expressed and made tangible in an appropriate sequence of spaces. Smaller airports permit these transactions to take place within a distance which allows one to keep the goal in sight. The concept of the spatial sequence is based on the distance of visibility. The major pre-condition was the creation of a continuous shed roof with a powerful roof light and clearly separated ancillary, inserted buildings which allow cross views not only in the spaces between them. As this is an extension to an existing complex, a broad swathe was cut through the existing structure which ensured this transparent quality over the entire distance. But this would not be a design by Riegler/Riewe if it were only concerned with satisfying the demands of function and achieving a correct sequence of spaces. The significance of their achievement lies not in their customary flexible layering of spaces but in the variously perceptible caesura. Not only do they make the facade to the forecourt and that towards the airfield very differently but they also define the internal threshold areas (like curtains) most sensitively. As you stand in a zone which automatically conveys to you your position in the checking-in ritual, the visual presence of the transition to the space ahead additionally dramatises the event.
The clicking-in to a world composed entirely of symbols and the associated clicking-out of spatial orientation which is customary in airports (generally accompanied by a feeling of unease) is avoided. You could also say that architecture has recaptured ground here, a space of sensual experience, which also calms the mind.

Friedrich Achleitner