Heathrow: city of the future instead of an airport

London Mayor Boris Johnson has long intended to close Heathrow. Now the mayor's office of the British capital is considering several architectural projects, each of which proposes to demolish Europe's busiest Heathrow Airport. But the history of Heathrow, which began with a military airfield in the 30s of the last century, will not end there. A city will be built on the site of the airport, in which 190,000 people will live.

(Total 10 photos)

1. Projects presented by leading architecture companies differ from each other: Hawkins / Brown proposes to create buildings on a 3D printer and use drones, Rick Mather believes that it is necessary to break the city into ten different districts, and Maccreanor Lavington emphasizes moderate conservatism . But all these projects are united by a common concept: there will be no more airport.

2. Hawkins/Brown: A port for airships will appear in the city.

3. What is the city of the future without drones? There will be a place in the city for takeoff and landing of drones, according to Hawkins / Brown.

4. Houses will be built using 3D printers, and parts of the buildings will be delivered by the same drones during construction. In total, the city will have 80,000 houses.

5. The other two projects don't look that futuristic. The airport's runways will be turned into roads connecting ten districts of Heathrow City under the Rick Mather project.

6. Residential areas will be located in the center.

7. The spaces between the former runways will turn into green parks.

8. Of the three projects, Maccreanor Lavington's is the most boring. The project does not involve revolutionary changes. The construction of the new city is planned in stages. Thus, the second Heathrow terminal will turn into an administrative center. On the other hand, it looks more realistic than the drone port from Hawkins/Brown.

9. There is not much room for trees.

10. It is difficult to say which of the three projects the mayor's office will choose. However, for the new airport, according to Bloomberg, the place has already been determined. It will be located east of the capital at the mouth of the Thames and will cost $98.5 billion.