The New 'Ultra-modern' Sofia Airport for the Capital SOFIA of BULGARIA.

Hi everyone,

My name is Emil and let me introduce myself as an architecture buff like everyone else at skyscrapercity. I wanted to show you some interesting pics of the development of Sofia Airport in Bulgaria. It's almost finished and it's looking good. But first let's look at what the airport will look like upon completion in two months time.

SOFIA AIRPORT (Design when airport is completed on August 31/2005)

http://www.okumo.com/im/present/aero6.jpg
http://www.okumo.com/im/present/aero5.jpg
http://www.okumo.com/im/present/aero1.jpg
http://www.okumo.com/im/present/aero8.jpg

At this initial stage of construction the terminal will have nearly 60,000 square meters of floor space. The continuos development through phases two and three will progressively expand this floor area. At this phase there are over 10,000 square meters of glass fascades for natural light conditions in the daytime and over 6200 artificial light sources for the nighttime. There are four above ground floors in the central part of the terminal, which are accessible by 12 elevators, two of which are panoramic 'glass' elevators. There are also seven escalators and staircases. Furthermore, the terminal has a modern protrusion that is 210 meters long and contains 6 port-to-aircraft bridges. There are also another 2 bridges that come directly from the airport terminal for a current total of eight. Over the next five years the airport will continue growing in size and eventually the number of bridges are envisioned to triple. The Bulgarian government hopes to make Sofia a central business, tourism and transportation center of the Balkans, and this airport is one of many steps in this direction. Finally the four story garage has a capacity of 820 cars and is connceted to the terminal by numerous elevators.
INTERIOR design:

http://www.penbro.com/images/airp3.jpg
http://www.sofia-airport.bg/3_new.jpg

Construction Pics:

This is how the terminal looks as you approach it from the highway. Keep in mind that its about 200 meters wide.
http://www.sofia-airport.bg/images/new2.jpg

From the extreme left edge of the multi-level parking lot to the tip of the protruding six finger gallery on the right, which is all visible here, the length is more than 400 meters.
http://www.sofia-airport.bg/images/new3.jpg

The New Airtaffic Control Center (connected to new terminal)
http://www.alumayer.co.il/Com/images/projects/Sofia5.jpg
http://www.alumayer.co.il/Com/images/projects/Sofia1.jpg
http://www.alumayer.co.il/Com/images/projects/Sofia2.jpg
http://www.alumayer.co.il/Com/images/projects/Sofia7.jpg

Cool INTERIOR photo for the central section of the Terminal Building:
http://img178.exs.cx/img178/7946/imagephp5ze.jpg

Exterior with people: gives an idea about size...
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6326/airportcool9ol.png

the design is very modern but it would of been better if it was a 'Hub' typed airport meaning very big in size.......
still very modern, looks a bit like a shopping center than an airport

In this picture you can also see in the distance the new Airtraffic control center. Must scroll all the way to the right to see it all.

http://img169.imageshack.us/img169/5314/new35go.jpg

The total airport complex, including a connecting business center, retail center, multiple hotel zone, and communications building and with metro
link to downtown Sofia, will be approximately 550,000 m2. It is indeed envisioned to become a hub airport, considering Bulgaria's entry in the EU scheduled for 2007, and its prime geographic location. Further still, there is a huge investor interests in these infrastructure projects due to the country's rapid economic expansion. It may be a small country, but it is already
referred to as the SE European economic tiger.

its nice, but kinda small. its perfect for bulgaria though!

the design is very modern but it would of been better if it was a 'Hub' typed airport meaning very big in size.......
still very modern, looks a bit like a shopping center than an airport

i totally agree. It looks too small. But when you thinbk about it, Sofia wouldnt need a massive airport like a few other countries.

From left to right, the arrivals/departures section is over 200 meters without including the future side fingers. From the back finger tip to the parkade is over 400 meters. And this is just phase 1. It will triple its size as contruction continues. That's BIG by any standart, especially when it's in a city of 1.2 million. By the way, when development is finished in a few years, the airport is suppost to have over 10 million capacity. In 2020 it will be over 15 million. That's pretty good in a country of 8.6 million.

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/7007/new2225vt.jpg

It's very good! I like it! :)

It's obviously small compared to world hubs! But it's in Sofia, which isn't exacty a world airline hub, so I think it's very good and well thought.

Building a huge airport with capacity for 30 million passangers would be just a stupid waste of money!

It's very good, and has expansion in mind, which is very important! :D

bu-tee-fuel.............
not too big not too small................
eazy to walk around...........

wow, beautiful!

small but really nice

I really like the sunken parking garage.

Its a HUGE improvement for Sofia. As a result of these works a new main runway is being built as well. The existing runway will become the main taxiway.

Sofia currently only handles a couple of million passengers per year. The new terminal will increase capacity several fold. Sofia will most likely never become a hub airport though.

As for big compared to other airports servicing a city of 1.2 million. I'm afraid Sofia is still way on the small side. What about Oslo (14 million passengers), Auckland (11 million passengers), or Las vegas (32 million passengers!) for starters, all cities of similar size to Sofia.

nice and small

I really like the sunken parking garage.

Its a HUGE improvement for Sofia. As a result of these works a new main runway is being built as well. The existing runway will become the main taxiway.

Sofia currently only handles a couple of million passengers per year. The new terminal will increase capacity several fold. Sofia will most likely never become a hub airport though.

As for big compared to other airports servicing a city of 1.2 million. I'm afraid Sofia is still way on the small side. What about Oslo (14 million passengers), Auckland (11 million passengers), or Las vegas (32 million passengers!) for starters, all cities of similar size to Sofia.

Well, that's interesting, but if you'd read everything that I had previously written, you would know that it's going to be over 15 million in 10 years. And by the way, that doesn't sound like it's "way on the small side compared to Oslo and Auckland." Another thing, at the moment Bulgaria is the fastest growing tourist destination in Europe, having 25% growth of tourist inflow year on year. A growth of over 15% is expected on average, per annum for the next 10 years. That put's the number of incoming international passengers at around 16 million in 2015. This figure of course excludes the expected 4,000,000 Bulgarians who are expected to travel in that year. (This figure includes Bulgarians living abroad) All in all, that 20 million in 10 years, and some projections think more still. Las Vegas is in a class of its own, but I think it's quite likely for Sofia to catch up to Auckland and Oslo. This is especially true if Sofia wins the bid to host the 2014 Olympic Games.

Nice. Is it my imagination, or are new airport arquitecture similar to shopping centres. Not that I am against it, rather on the contrary, but I was just wondering.

Well, that's interesting, but if you'd read everything that I had previously written, you would know that it's going to be over 15 million in 10 years. And by the way, that doesn't sound like it's "way on the small side compared to Oslo and Auckland." Another thing, at the moment Bulgaria is the fastest growing tourist destination in Europe, having 25% growth of tourist inflow year on year. A growth of over 15% is expected on average, per annum for the next 10 years. That put's the number of incoming international passengers at around 16 million in 2015. This figure of course excludes the expected 4,000,000 Bulgarians who are expected to travel in that year. (This figure includes Bulgarians living abroad) All in all, that 20 million in 10 years, and some projections think more still. Las Vegas is in a class of its own, but I think it's quite likely for Sofia to catch up to Auckland and Oslo. This is especially true if Sofia wins the bid to host the 2014 Olympic Games.

According to the Sofia Airport website the airport handles 1.2 million passengers per year. At a rate of 15% per year growth that would put the number of passengers at just under 5 million in 2015.
According to the website the new terminal was built to a projected 2.5 million passengers in the first instance.
Considering Auckland's growth is at around 15% at the moment I dont think there will be much chance of Sofia catching it.

great airport, looks really modern!

http://www.sofia-airport.bg/En/Image19.gif

Go to the Bulgarian written section of the airport website and more importantly to www.stroitelstvo.info to get the full load of information and not partial texts. The airport, including the new finger and sleeves will handle over 2000 passengers per peak hour. At maximum efficiency it is capable of processing over 7 million passengers per annum. At 80%, or optimum designed efficiency in phase 1, it would handle 5.6 million passengers per annum. According to plans, two more fingers will be built over the next few years. The design envisages as many as five fingers, which means approximately 40 sleeves. By the way, the current 'old' airport handles nearly 2 million passengers, and it is around the fifth the size of the new one, and it has no fingers or sleeves. Oh, and here's some more from www.stroitelstvo.info

I have some information on the total development of the area surrounding the terminal building. The plan is to have these completed in five years time.

The terminal will be connected by gallery bridges to the following areas:

Communications center
(includes a group of hotels) area: 64200 m2
Administrative zone area: 28800 m2
Retail zone area: 28800 m2
Business center area: 66700 m2
Park "Communications and Culture" area: 114560 m2
Sports Park area: 42000 m2
Technical core area: 4100 m2
Recultivated Zone area: 69100 m2

really nice project, any updates?

Pretty much like a provincial airport but it's nice though. The interior makes the airport look bigger. :)

nice work Dulgeroff, great stuff, I'm looking forward to Sofia opening its new airport, hopefully you going to have more photos, if you are in Bulgaria (at the time) post them, btw you still in China?

wow:eek2:so beautiful!

any new photos ?

I love it!....Rather big for Sofia......looks great :) What is the capacity of the old airport?

I love it!....Rather big for Sofia......looks great :) What is the capacity of the old airport?

Approximately 1.8M passengers/year. This is the source. (http://www.azworldairports.com/cfm/frame.cfm?src=http://azworldairports.com/airports/p1230.htm)

Looks cool and contemparary! It's good to plan ahead and build upfront.

Thanx Tien!!!