What A Grey Day

I dropped my sister off here this morning. One can no longer drive to the front of terminal. :(

I've been coming to Stansted airport regularly since my children were small. We used to park at the end of the runway in the the seventies and watch the planes. My son was aeroplane mad before he could talk and now works as a flying instructor.

Seeing the Space Shuttle Enterprise on the back of a 747 land here in 1983 made a great impression on him too. He went to see the final Shuttle launch.

Norman Foster, the designer of the terminal, loves flying and bold and simple lines. He wanted his design to celebrate the drama of air travel. He wanted people in the terminal to be able to look out and see the aeroplane in which they were to fly. It's a shame that commerce and security concerns have compromised this vision. :(

The steel framed, single storey building, lit by triangular skylights, is built on an expansive grid supported by 'column trees' with elegant tubular branches. These 'trees' can be seen supporting the awning in my pic.