Foster + Partners, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and UNStudio are battling to win the tender for a new £1 billion terminal at Taiwan's largest airport, Taoyuan International.
The architecture firms are among the three teams shortlisted to design the 640,000-square-metre Terminal 3 building at Taoyuan International Airport, set to accommodate an additional 45 million passengers each year.
Norman Foster's London firm is working independently, while Richard Rogers' office has teamed up with local firm Fei & Cheng Associates and engineer Arup, and Ben van Berkel's Amsterdam studio is partnering with local studio Bio-Architecture Formosana and US-based April Yang Design Studio.
Due for completion in 2020, the new complex will be located between the airport's Terminal 2 and the China Airlines Headquarters, and will share some facilities with the existing terminal.
The project will encompass new concourses and a series of multi-functional buildings, as well as infrastructure including taxiways, service routes, access roads, and other transit systems.
Taoyuan International Airport, formerly known as Chiang Kai-shek International, is located 40 kilometres west of the Taiwanese capital, Taipei. In 2014 it was the 11th busiest passenger airport in the world.
All three architecture firms involved have airport experience. Rogers Stirk Harbour was responsible for Terminal 4 at Madrid Barajas Airport and Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow, while Foster + Partners designed Beijing Capital Airport and London's Stansted. UNStudio recently completed Kutaisi International Airport in Georgia.
The three teams will all receive £126,000 to participate in the second phase of the competition, and are expected to submit designs by 26 October.
The winner will be selected by a jury including Bartlett School of Architecture director Marcos Cruz, 2011-12 Hong Kong & Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale curator Kwang-Yu King, and Michael Speaks, dean of Syracuse University's school of architecture and the University of Kentucky's college of design.