Terminal 3 is stuffy!

Just went to see the Singapore Changi Airport Terminal 3 open house today.

Their basement consists of many shops. Saw Candy Empire there, and Ya Kun.

Above that is the Arrival hall. Typical airport layout. I don't really remember much about it though.

It's the Departure hall above that is different from other airports. Can you identify the picture below?

You can see this "contraption" everywhere. This is actually the air-con vent. Innovative deisgn. However, there is a problem with this. I'll explain later. Now, this is the picture of the ceiling.


See the problem? The design of the roof is such that the sunlight is filtered down through these strange reflectors. However, the aircon vents are all near the ground level (There are 2 more levels above the departure hall). The result is a stuffy departure terminal. All the hot air is trapped above, and I'm not sure how effective the air-con will be if the vents are all near the ground level.

There are also a lot of live plants around the whole terminal. I really hope that the plants have sufficient sunlight or artificial light because if they don't, we're going to suffer from carbon dioxide overdose.

The 2 levels above the departure hall consists of mainly shops. If I understand correctly, Kopitiam will be operating the food court above the departure hall. I've also seen Harris, and Harry's there. Burger King and Dian Xiao Er too. Yes... You heard me correctly. Dian Xiao Er.

Inside the departure hall though, is different. The moment I went in, I felt that it's much cooler than outside. Maybe because the air-con vents are finally situated at the top. There are many shops inside, which includes Charles & Keith, Sony Gallery, and even an official FIFA shop. They also have a small butterfly kingdom inside. Weird, but true. Terminal 3 is also connected to the other terminals by the sky train, whether you have checked-in, or not checked-in, so its not a problem going to the different terminals. There's still a lot of construction though.

Here's a couple of photos within the departure hall, and arrival hall:


This is what you'll see after you check-in.


This is the departure hall where you wait for boarding.


This is a small eco-corner at the arrival hall.


This is the main arrival hall.


This "eco-attraction" is near where you collect your baggage.
Due to the number of mirrors used in the Terminal 3 architecture, it looks very big. In fact, I think its as big as 63 football fields. However, with all the mirrors, it looks even bigger.

One thing I don't like is that the departure hall is quite stuffy. Other than that, I would say that Terminal 3 seems to be designed for shopping. I see shops everywhere! Inside, outside, basement... It might be because they are catering it to the hotel to be built near the airport.

Frankly, if they have used solar panels instead of reflectors on the top, Terminal 3 would truly be eco-friendly. I thought they would have done something out of the box. After looking at it, I do not see anything that is very out of the ordinary. In fact, to me, it looks like Terminal 3 is a very big greenhouse. Oh well...

Official opening is 9 January 2008.