AIRPORT

By Eduardo Osuna

 

Monterrey has one of the most important airports in Mexico. Mariano Escobedo Airport receives more than 6 million passengers per year. It’s divided in three terminals (A, B & C); these were developed to provide a better service, because in previous years one terminal was not enough for all passengers.

A city can be rated by the amount of flights it receives every day. This characteristic can show how many people get in or out of a metropolis. Terminal “B” at Monterrey’s Airport opened in September 2010. It was designed mainly for business travelers, since 60% to 70% of people who visit Monterrey, do it with this purpose. 

 

Some of the characteristic elements that can be identified at first view inside an airport are the local advertising and promoting tourism ads, these give a sense of identity of the city where you are. Rem Koolhaas defines the airport as one of the most important buildings in a generic city, for the complex installations and traffic circulation, Therefore, it’s considered like a hermetic system where there is no way out, with the exception to go to another airport.

 

At Monterrey’s airport one can feel inside of an airplane, there is no relation with the context, there are no physical elements that distinguish of differentiate it from another city, except for few signs and pictures that might relate to the context. It leaves individuals to think as if they were in a limb, a special terrain with no boarders, and a no-belonging sense. Perhaps the no sense of place a true characteristic of the airports from generic cities, a vicious void of identity in which the city is falling slowly.