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Published: June XX, 2019
Introduction
On July 1st, 2020, Melbourne's Tullamarine Airport turns 50 years old. (From the first look, Tullamarine is your average slick looking international gateway airport.
Tullamarine was Australia's very first Jet Age airport to built from scratch and in this article, we will take you back to the planning phase of Tullamarine and demonstrate that the airport was planned with amazing vision, vision from which the current airport management is still benefiting from.
For example, the Tullamarine Master Plan was one of the world's first to implement a large bufferzone around the airport, protecting neighboring communities from noise and safeguarding future development.
Most interestingly, the airport was the world's first airport with extensive landside facilities meant to generate non-aeronautical or non-aviation business revenues (link). Now known as the "airport city concept", where airports start resembling cities due to fact that they offer city-type facilities within their perimeter, airports like Schiphol and Frankfurt have often been credited with implementing the airport city concept first back in the 1980s.
However, it was in fact Tullamarine that implemented it long before any of the others and in this article we'll set the record straight. All of this was driven by one man, Dr. Bill Bradfield, a man who should be considered one of the great visionaries of his time.
Now, re-appreciate the this great airport with this multi-media trip back in time!
Tullamarine was Australia's very first Jet Age airport to built from scratch and in this article, we will take you back to the planning phase of Tullamarine and demonstrate that the airport was planned with amazing vision, vision from which the current airport management is still benefiting from.
For example, the Tullamarine Master Plan was one of the world's first to implement a large bufferzone around the airport, protecting neighboring communities from noise and safeguarding future development.
Most interestingly, the airport was the world's first airport with extensive landside facilities meant to generate non-aeronautical or non-aviation business revenues (link). Now known as the "airport city concept", where airports start resembling cities due to fact that they offer city-type facilities within their perimeter, airports like Schiphol and Frankfurt have often been credited with implementing the airport city concept first back in the 1980s.
However, it was in fact Tullamarine that implemented it long before any of the others and in this article we'll set the record straight. All of this was driven by one man, Dr. Bill Bradfield, a man who should be considered one of the great visionaries of his time.
Now, re-appreciate the this great airport with this multi-media trip back in time!
Melbourne Tullamarine Airport
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THE NEED FOR A NEW AIRPORT.
Melbourne's Essendon Airport, whose history goes back to 1919, had been serving as Melbourne's main airport since 1950. By the late 1950s, urban development had encroached the airport from all sides. It was clear that Essendon could not be expanded in order to meet the needs of the upcoming intercontinental jets such as the Boeing 707 and the DC-8. This problem became more pressing when in 1957, Pan Am signaled its intention to fly to Melbourne with its new Boeing 707, following the signing of the Australia–US Air Transport Agreement (AUSATA). |
VIDEO: THE NEED FOR A NEW AIRPORT
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LOCATION
In 1958, the Australian Director-General of Civil Aviation established a 28-man Melbourne Airport Panel to advise on the future airport development for Melbourne.
These 28 men, consisting of delegates from the government, the air force, the pilots and the major airlines, recommended unanimously that a site at semi-rural Tullamarine, 12 miles (19 kilometers) north-west of the city should be developed as an airport to meet Melbourne's growing needs.
The panel's recommendations were developed in more detail by the department of civil aviation and following Government approval in May 1959, an area of 2,210 hectares (5,238 acres) of Tullamarine land was acquired by the department of the interior on behalf of DCA.
The lands which had been held by 39 separate owners was acquired for AU$ 4.7 million in the period from 1959 until 1964.
In 1958, the Australian Director-General of Civil Aviation established a 28-man Melbourne Airport Panel to advise on the future airport development for Melbourne.
These 28 men, consisting of delegates from the government, the air force, the pilots and the major airlines, recommended unanimously that a site at semi-rural Tullamarine, 12 miles (19 kilometers) north-west of the city should be developed as an airport to meet Melbourne's growing needs.
The panel's recommendations were developed in more detail by the department of civil aviation and following Government approval in May 1959, an area of 2,210 hectares (5,238 acres) of Tullamarine land was acquired by the department of the interior on behalf of DCA.
The lands which had been held by 39 separate owners was acquired for AU$ 4.7 million in the period from 1959 until 1964.
THE MASTER PLAN
In 1958, Tullamarine was proposed as Melbourne’s new jetport site and the Federal Government ratified this decision in 1959.
Land acquisition occurred from 1959 to 1963 while the functional plans were finalized in 1963.
Plans for the use of airport land for non-aviation purposes occurred early on. The first mention of industrial parks on airport land occurred in 1958
Budgetted at 10 and ready in 1967
In 1958, the designers set out to build Australia's very first greenfield Jet-Age Airport, or Jetport.
The plan envisaged the construction of a main north-south 8,500-foot (2,591-meter) runway and a 7,500-foot (2,286-meter) east-west cross-runway.
Originally, the new airport was originally planned for aircraft of the early Jet Age, with its runways allowing Boeing 707s to fly nonstop to Darwin, Fiji and Perth and the Qantas Boeing 707-138Bs to fly nonstop to Manila and Singapore.
Later it was decided to extend runway 16/34 to 11,998 feet (3,657 meter) to enable to enable Boeing 747's to fly nonstop to Honolulu.
ROOM FOR EXPANSION
There was ample space to extend runway 09/27 and the master plan provided space for the construction of two additional runways on the south side of the airport to give to sets of parallel runways, although this would involve extensive taxiing.
Functional areas like the passenger terminal area and the freight were all well separated in order to ensure room for expansion for each function. A large area in the south of the airport was reserved for a future aircraft maintenance area.
In order to ensure that urban development would encroach upon the airport a large buffer zone was created around the airport.
NON-AVIATION BUSINESS
A very novel
In Australia, Tullamarine was the first airport to incorporate systematic buffer zones into its planning not only to decrease noise but for the construction of an Airport City
Under the direction of Bill Bradfield, First Assistant Director-General
of the Commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation, the Tullamarine
Airport was built with a wide range of facilities, all on airport land, which
were intended to generate income from non-aviation activities and lead
to financial sustainability. These included a conference centre, the Astrojet
Centre with its exhibition space, cinema, art galleries, bottle shop, chemist,
milk bar, hairdresser and dentist, a substantial industrial park, fine dining
restaurant, cocktail lounges, VIP meeting rooms, multiple bars, an eighteenhole
golf course and observation decks.
Most interestingly, the airport was the world's first airport with extensive landside facilities meant to generate non-aeronautical or non-aviation business revenues (link). Now known as the "airport city concept", where airports start resembling cities due to fact that they offer city-type facilities within their perimeter, airports like Schiphol and Frankfurt have often been credited with implementing the airport city concept first back in the 1980s.
In 1958, Tullamarine was proposed as Melbourne’s new jetport site and the Federal Government ratified this decision in 1959.
Land acquisition occurred from 1959 to 1963 while the functional plans were finalized in 1963.
Plans for the use of airport land for non-aviation purposes occurred early on. The first mention of industrial parks on airport land occurred in 1958
Budgetted at 10 and ready in 1967
In 1958, the designers set out to build Australia's very first greenfield Jet-Age Airport, or Jetport.
The plan envisaged the construction of a main north-south 8,500-foot (2,591-meter) runway and a 7,500-foot (2,286-meter) east-west cross-runway.
Originally, the new airport was originally planned for aircraft of the early Jet Age, with its runways allowing Boeing 707s to fly nonstop to Darwin, Fiji and Perth and the Qantas Boeing 707-138Bs to fly nonstop to Manila and Singapore.
Later it was decided to extend runway 16/34 to 11,998 feet (3,657 meter) to enable to enable Boeing 747's to fly nonstop to Honolulu.
ROOM FOR EXPANSION
There was ample space to extend runway 09/27 and the master plan provided space for the construction of two additional runways on the south side of the airport to give to sets of parallel runways, although this would involve extensive taxiing.
Functional areas like the passenger terminal area and the freight were all well separated in order to ensure room for expansion for each function. A large area in the south of the airport was reserved for a future aircraft maintenance area.
In order to ensure that urban development would encroach upon the airport a large buffer zone was created around the airport.
NON-AVIATION BUSINESS
A very novel
In Australia, Tullamarine was the first airport to incorporate systematic buffer zones into its planning not only to decrease noise but for the construction of an Airport City
Under the direction of Bill Bradfield, First Assistant Director-General
of the Commonwealth Department of Civil Aviation, the Tullamarine
Airport was built with a wide range of facilities, all on airport land, which
were intended to generate income from non-aviation activities and lead
to financial sustainability. These included a conference centre, the Astrojet
Centre with its exhibition space, cinema, art galleries, bottle shop, chemist,
milk bar, hairdresser and dentist, a substantial industrial park, fine dining
restaurant, cocktail lounges, VIP meeting rooms, multiple bars, an eighteenhole
golf course and observation decks.
Most interestingly, the airport was the world's first airport with extensive landside facilities meant to generate non-aeronautical or non-aviation business revenues (link). Now known as the "airport city concept", where airports start resembling cities due to fact that they offer city-type facilities within their perimeter, airports like Schiphol and Frankfurt have often been credited with implementing the airport city concept first back in the 1980s.
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Er zit een blemish op de foto onder
QUOTE ABOUT THE PROBLEM OF AIRPORT DESIGN
- Walter Prokosch, design architect of the Pan Am terminal
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TERMINAL DESIGN
For the terminal, the designers sought to incorporate the most modern design concepts and features from overseas airports. Examples of that were the new concepts of boarding bridges or jetways and level separation between departing and arriving passengers. The designers were particularly inspired by the design of Chicago's 'O hare's new terminal, which opened in 1962, as well as the design of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, whose designs were revealed in 1962. The design for the terminal was revealed in 1964. The concept was straightforward and uncluttered. designed comprised an angular terminal with three sections, the central section being the longest. Facing a wide apron, each of the three terminal sections would be equipped with a pier, or loading concourse. The central section was dedicated to international passengers, the adjoining sections were dedicated to domestic traffic. The piers had two levels and would be equipped with boarding bridges. In the original design, the central pier was straight. Later two stubs were added at the end, giving it a "Y" shape. Additional sections and piers could easily be added on each end. Also, (over interne flexibiliteit) From 1958, it was Bradfield’s intention to use the buffer zones for non-aviation revenue. This allowed Tullamarine to comprise a comprehensive suite of different elements located landside, inside, and outside the terminal building. The reasoning behind landside amenities was to keep ‘traffic ways clear, allowing for the fastest possible movement of passengers and freight’.10 Another important part of Airport Cities is their ability to grow. Tullamarine’s terminal was designed with a central international section flanked by two domestic terminals (Figure 3) and this layout allowed for easy expansion. To aid additions, the external cladding was removable with ‘minimal inconvenience to the function of the terminal’.14 Internal partitions were ‘non-bearing’ while the roof was clear of plant, allowing upward expansion if required.15 From 1958, Tullamarine was designed with four parallel runways but only an east–west and north–south were built while the remaining runways were to be constructed when required. This level of expandability had not been seen in airports prior to Tullamarine and was another example of Bradfield’s vision and ingenuity. The whole of Tullamarine was an expandable site: from the runways, to the terminal and its concourses. There were several different catering options at Tullamarine, which were designed, not only to serve the travelling public but visitors as well. The facilities included the flagship Top Air International Restaurant, the second-floor cocktail bar and lounge, VIP rooms, two ‘quick service’ restaurants, two cocktail bars in the domestic terminals, two milk bars or general stores on the observation decks, and a staff canteen/restaurant on the ground floor.22 |
The visionairyThe principal planner for Melbourne Tullamarine was Dr. Bill Bradfield. Bradfield was the First Assistant Director General of ground facilities for the Commonwealth’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA). He oversaw the concept, design, and master plan of Tullamarine, but staff from the DCA and the Department of Works made Bradfield’s functional plans a reality. Bradfield recognized that facilities such as restaurants and observation decks would attract paying spectators. He was cognizant that airports needed to be self-sustaining. Bradfield conceived Tullamarine not only as a transport facility but also as an attraction in its own right – an idea he first described in 1945, which allowed an alternative source of revenue to traditional aviation sources such as landing fees and hangar fees: Airports can and should be designed also as centres of public attraction and much revenue can be made from the non-travelling public by attractive restaurants, open-air cafes and public galleries. Walther Prokosch retired in 1975 and died in 1991 at the age of 79. |
Pic of model
GALLERY: THE DESIGN (click photos to enlarge) - Add Amsterdam and ORD
DESIGN CHANGES
Start construction (van eerste blad brochure)
Delays due to design changes. for the 747 construction delays. Bad because airlines stopped serving Essendon
Special feature high attention to airport revenues
Later on, length of runway was adjusted.
Start construction (van eerste blad brochure)
Delays due to design changes. for the 747 construction delays. Bad because airlines stopped serving Essendon
Special feature high attention to airport revenues
Later on, length of runway was adjusted.
Construction image
At night the magic of light and dark converts the parasol into an oddly shaped mushroom, phospherent in a twinkling field, for the passengers arriving and departing by plane.
- New York Times, June 3, 1960.
GALLERY: AERIAL AND EXTERIOR VIEWS (click photos to enlarge)
The selection of Tullamarine in 1959 offered a site free from constraints yet close to the city. Construction commenced in 1964 and the airport opened on 1 July 1970. The location allowed the airport to operate without a curfew, providing Melbourne with a major commercial advantage over Sydney Airport, including for freight.
The sculptorCreator of the bronze signs, was the noted American sculptor Milton Hebald. Hebald studied at the Art's Students' league and Beaux Art Institute in New York City. At the age of 17, he won acclaim with his first one-man show, and commissions quickly followed. He won numerous prizes, including the Prix de Rome in Sculpture. Hebald chose the signs of the zodiac for the terminal because the imaginary belt in the heavens seemed to him the most universal idea for an air terminal serving international travelers. The 12 pieces constitute one of the largest bronze groupings ever executed. As part of renovations, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey removed the sculptures, which are stored at a hangar at JFK. Milton Hebald died in 2015 at the age of 97. |
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THE PASSENGER PROCESS
Passengers entered the terminal through an open entrance with an air curtain maintaining the building's climate, a very novel feature at the time. Passengers checked their baggage at one of four check-in islands and then proceeded to one of two seat selection points to complete the pre-check formalities.
Once the check-in process had been completed, they could wait in the lounge areas at the gates, step out onto the observation gallery, visit the concessions including kiosks for duty-free shops, or ascend to the mezzanine.
On the mezzanine level, there was a cocktail bar, restaurant, coffee shop, bar, a nursery and the Clipper Hall museum, a homage to Pan American's pioneering heritage. There was also offices and the Clipper Lounge for frequent fliers (see gallery below).
When flights were called, the adjacent lounge lights were dimmed and the gate doorway illuminated in a dramatic touch conceived by Walter Prokosh.
Arriving passengers entered the main concourse and descended to the ground level for baggage reclaim before proceeding out to the arrivals roadway beneath the departures ramp.
Passengers entered the terminal through an open entrance with an air curtain maintaining the building's climate, a very novel feature at the time. Passengers checked their baggage at one of four check-in islands and then proceeded to one of two seat selection points to complete the pre-check formalities.
Once the check-in process had been completed, they could wait in the lounge areas at the gates, step out onto the observation gallery, visit the concessions including kiosks for duty-free shops, or ascend to the mezzanine.
On the mezzanine level, there was a cocktail bar, restaurant, coffee shop, bar, a nursery and the Clipper Hall museum, a homage to Pan American's pioneering heritage. There was also offices and the Clipper Lounge for frequent fliers (see gallery below).
When flights were called, the adjacent lounge lights were dimmed and the gate doorway illuminated in a dramatic touch conceived by Walter Prokosh.
Arriving passengers entered the main concourse and descended to the ground level for baggage reclaim before proceeding out to the arrivals roadway beneath the departures ramp.
The building [...] is, unlike other terminals unadorned. It has no art inside; the building is the exhibition
- New York Times, June 3, 1960.
GALLERY: INTERIOR VIEWS (click photos to enlarge)
Proclaiming its Jet Age ambition, a 1962 Pan Am terminal brochure read:
Jet Age engineering - modern science anticipating your needs...in Pan American's Jet Age terminal they reach their highest expression - all to smooth your departures and arrivals...to add to the pleasures of Jet Clipper travel.
May we welcome you soon? On your way for a delightful flight overseas...to greet an arriving friend...or simply coming to look. You'll be closest to the Jet Age here - and find it wonderfully exciting.
Jet Age engineering - modern science anticipating your needs...in Pan American's Jet Age terminal they reach their highest expression - all to smooth your departures and arrivals...to add to the pleasures of Jet Clipper travel.
May we welcome you soon? On your way for a delightful flight overseas...to greet an arriving friend...or simply coming to look. You'll be closest to the Jet Age here - and find it wonderfully exciting.
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The Pan Am terminal was eclipsed in terms of critical acclaim by Eero Saarinen's work for the TWA Flight Center. |
OPENING/FIRST FLIGHT/PHASED OPENING
Pan American's terminal was the smallest of the airline terminals at JFK at 101,680 square feet (9,446 square meters). With a price tag of USD 12 million, it was also the most expensive per square foot, coming in at USD 118. The drama of the cantilevered roof was estimatrf to have cost an extra 25% over a more conventional building.
The Pan Am terminal opened on May 24th, 1960. In the first six months, the terminal handled 335,000 passengers, on 5,437 flights. The busiest day was August 11, with 41 flights and 3,090 passengers.
In that year's annual architectural competition, sponsored by the Queens Chamber of Commerce, the terminal won a special award as Queens' most outstanding structure. However, in general the Pan Am terminal was eclipsed in terms of critical acclaim by Eero Saarinen's work for the TWA Flight Center at Kennedy.
Later on, we will revisit the Pan Am terminal, when we discuss the late 1960s Worldport expansion.
NIET ALLEEN MAAR OVER DE TERMINAL
Pan American's terminal was the smallest of the airline terminals at JFK at 101,680 square feet (9,446 square meters). With a price tag of USD 12 million, it was also the most expensive per square foot, coming in at USD 118. The drama of the cantilevered roof was estimatrf to have cost an extra 25% over a more conventional building.
The Pan Am terminal opened on May 24th, 1960. In the first six months, the terminal handled 335,000 passengers, on 5,437 flights. The busiest day was August 11, with 41 flights and 3,090 passengers.
In that year's annual architectural competition, sponsored by the Queens Chamber of Commerce, the terminal won a special award as Queens' most outstanding structure. However, in general the Pan Am terminal was eclipsed in terms of critical acclaim by Eero Saarinen's work for the TWA Flight Center at Kennedy.
Later on, we will revisit the Pan Am terminal, when we discuss the late 1960s Worldport expansion.
NIET ALLEEN MAAR OVER DE TERMINAL
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In the future we will be posting a full history on Tullamarine Airport featuring many rare images from our archives!
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Acknowledgements
I want to give a special thanks to Shea Oakley, commercial aviation historian, who provided great insights and feedback on this article.