Book Release “Schiphol Megastructure”

“Schiphol Megastructure” is a book on Amsterdam’s iconic airport, its architecture, design and history.

Airports look alike all over the world. Schiphol has conformed to the patterns of an airport, but its unique design makes it stand out. “Megastructure Schiphol” looks into the history of the Netherlands’ famous national airport and gives a thorough overview of its design, signage and history. It shows how the structure of Schiphol is based on fixed design rules that have kept the airport, despite its turbulent growth, well-organized and easy to navigate to this very day. Schipol can genuinely be called a megastructure.

Originally opened in 1916, Schipol has been added to in fits and starts over the years, maintaining throughout its construction an extraordinary consistency and simplicity of design, and expanding to become a city in its own right. Now one of the world’s busiest airports, Schipol enjoys an iconic status in Holland, and not only because of its sheer scale – its signage, for example, developed by the information design firm Mijksenaar, has been adopted by airports all around the world and is admired today as a classic motif of Dutch Design. Megastructure Schipol looks at the history of Schipol: its metamorphoses over the years; its function as a model for other airports; and its unique accommodation of the surrounding metropolis, in terms of economics, infrastructure, design and image-making.

Authors: Koos Bosma, Marieke Berkers, Iris Burgers, Karel Davids, Abdel El Makhloufi, Heidi de Mare, Anna Nikolaeva and Jan Willem de Wijn (interviews). NAi010 publishers, distribution in US through ARTBOOK | D.A.P.