Forest in the Windows; A

When the New Kuala Lumpur International airport was first conceived, it came with a desire that KLIA (as it has now come to be named) would not merely fulfill the objectives of being unique in design and outstandingly efficient. Above these two factors there was a vision that KLIA would be an object of great beauty in which the natural attractions of the Malaysia could be seen. The greatest natural heritage of Malaysia is its tropical rain forests and it was determined at the very outset that this outstanding attribute would somehow be woven into the fabric of the KLIA design and layout. Thus one of the foundation planning principles of KLIA was embodied in the thought – “An airport in the forest and a forest in the airport” However when the more practical parameters of design were considered, it became clear that some modification to this concept was necessary if the idea was to be realised. First the idea of an airport in the forest needs to be examined. The safe operation of an international airport is not consistent with having runways, taxiways, tarmac and terminal buildings fitting as pieces of a mosaic in a tropical rain forests system. Such forests naturally tower between 50 and 70 metres in height. Safe aircraft operation requires there be plenty visibility of both runway and terminal for an aircraft making a landing approach. Safety considerations also require that there be plenty of flat open space around the runways, taxiways and tarmac so that an aircraft that overshoots or misses the concrete will not find itself engulfed in a forest (literally) of trees. At the same time it was also noted that the natural forest habitat of the KLIA site was mainly swamp forest. It would be impractical if not impossible to maintain this forest type around the airport complex (even though the general canopy level of such forests was less in height than the towering lowland dipterocarp forest) for very simple reason swamp forests grow in swamps. The massive earthworks that would be necessary to create the base for the airport complex would so seriously impact the swamp conditions that a swamp forest would not survive. Thus to meet the objective of an airport in the forest, the KLIA planners decided that the trees in the vicinity of the airport would all be planted. Species would be selected so that excessive height did not obscure the architectural form of the terminal buildings. Building design would on the other hand ensure good visibility of the surrounding areas, especially the forest features.The idea of a forest in an airport was incorporated into the central hub of the cross-shaped international terminal, a satellite of the main airport complex. The idea of “a forest in the airport” is not some grand indoor landscaping scheme. Nor is it merely the transplanting a number of large trees into a building complex. The more lofty aim is to create a Malaysian rainforest ecosystem (at least from the floristic point of view) right in the middle of the international terminal. This forest ecosystem has to have its own environment and be separated from the unnatural conditions of the air-conditioned interior of the building. This forest ecosystem would form the center piece for the terminal and passengers would be able to pass their time while waiting for their flights, looking upon a scene of peace and tranquility. One further challenge was the fact that this forest was not to be established upon existing earth at the ground level of the terminal but what is virtually its first floor, with a full baggage-handling hub beneath. The contours of this forest floor and its heart of earth and loam had to be gently sculpted over a concrete base and somehow meet the more subtle ecological soil needs of a rain forest system. These challenges however pale in comparison to the attempt to establish a living ecosystem of trees and shrubs with those attendant herbs, decaying humus, fungi and lichens that fill the niches of the forest system. This book focuses on how these challenges were met and answered. It details the role played by the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (FRIM) in helping bring about two firsts. The first forest ecosystem within a building complex, and, the first international airport in the world with an enclosed and elevated forest ecosystem built up (literally) from nothing.