Design of Tan Son Nhat airport’s new terminal inspired by traditional dress

The design inspired by the image of ‘Ao dai’ (Vietnamese traditional long dress), one of the country’s cultural symbols, has been selected for the third terminal of Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City.

The Airports Corporation of Vietnam (ACV) - the investor of the project - has recently completed and approved the design of the terminal, and organised bidding to select contractors so as to start construction in the third quarter of this year.

According to the investor, the terminal (T3) will have a soft curved roof stretching from the terminal to the garden at the center of the commercial-office complex, reminiscent of the flap of the Vietnamese ‘Ao dai’.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh last Saturday ordered construction of T3 be started in the third quarter of 2022 and the facility be put into use in September 2024.

Chinh also asked the Ministry of National Defence to work with relevant parties to hand over 16.05 hectares of land under its management for the terminal project and another 11.89 ha for the building of a road linking nearby Tran Quoc Hoan and Cong Hoa roads in Tan Binh district in July.

The T3 project, with an investment capital of nearly VND11,000 billion ($471 million), received the government's in-principle approval two years ago. It is set to raise Tan Son Nhat’s annual capacity from 30 million passengers to 50 million.

Airport officials said that arrivals have increased sharply to approach the pre-pandemic peak of 2019. However, this surge has put great pressure on the country's biggest airport that has suffered overload for many years now.

The project, previously scheduled to start implementation at the end of last year, has stayed dormant because of land clearance problems.