Imagination, Visualization and Architecture: Amsterdam Airport Schiphol from 1919 until 2006

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, commonly called “Schiphol,” is a well-known Dutch phenomenon. It is the country’s largest, most important airport and currently lies in the middle of the nation’s most densely populated urban area. Since its inception, much has been written about the airport: as a business, as a contributor to the Dutch economy, and as a burden on the region. Schiphol Airport has rooted itself in the Dutch consciousness as the nation’s main airport, despite having a history in which its existence was challenged often and its side effects have become more negatively perceived since the introduction of the jet airplane. Much has been written about the airport: as a business, as a contributor to the Dutch economy, and as a burden on the region. Yet, literature has not touched upon exactly how the airport as a phenomenon found its footing in a densely populated urban area and how this has become so accepted. The most obvious reason for this gap is that the answer cannot be found solely in the study and analysis of Schiphol’s business results or economic impact alone. The understanding of how this airport came to be embraced as the country’s national airport, consequently, must begin with the study of imagination, for it is imagination that precedes new developments. This thesis, therefore, concerns itself with the history of the cultural significance of Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and how this materialized in the spatial manifestations of the airport. With this research the dominant general recognizable characterizations of Schiphol -its “image”- was traced during the selected time frame. And secondly to analyze the airports spatial development through its terminals. Hence, the following main research questions are central to this thesis: How did Schiphol manifest both as an “image” and as architecture from 1920 until 2006; how did these manifestations materialize; how do they relate to each other; and finally, how did these manifestations contribute to the airport’s cultural significance during this time? To answer the research question an interdisciplinary research framework was developed that allowed for the study of the formation of Schiphol as an “image” and to analyze how this relates to the physical manifestation of the airport. Herein, the gradual development of Schiphol’s terminal buildings was explored alongside the similarly developing image of Schiphol throughout the selected period. The result of this is described in the form of three chronological parts that correspond to an “image” of the airport that was dominant during a specific period of its history. Through the study of the different characterizations of Schiphol in its dominant “images” alongside the architectural development of the terminals, it was possible to distinguish a connection, which can be best characterized as an oscillating reciprocity between image and spatial development. In some cases, the image of the airport contained a type of Schiphol that pushed the boundaries of the current reality by proposing an alternative in anticipation of a development (see airmindedness and the search for airport architecture), an ideal (the mainport as an economic ideal), an adaptation (Schiphol as World Airport of the Netherlands), or even by fastidiously committing to the propagation of an ideal that is at odds with the current reality (the discussion surrounding growth of Schiphol). Other times, the development of the spatial environment led to an unplanned effect that was then appropriated into either the existing image of Schiphol or was the starting point for a whole new image of the airport: as was the case with Schiphol as AirportCity.