The Airport Free Trade Zone is perhaps one of the most explicit examples of how the logics and logistics of globalisation come to dominate local economies. The scale of the airport as an architectural typology is compelling in its own right. The type itself is also significant as an example of how globalisation brings with it a remarkably uniform and generic architecture. Irrespective of how ornate or figured this generic form may be, this uniformity is indicative of globalisation’s tendency to favour repetitive architectural imagery that operates in a sphere beyond the local contexts within which its architecture is actually positioned. Rather than challenge this, the studio sought to intensify the significance of the pattern and the image even further. The studio required students to develop a masterplan for the new Western Sydney Airport at Badgerys Creek, using repetition and patterns, figures and ground, as a basis to explore the potentials offered by globalisation’s uniform non-spaces.
