Automated For The People

Change has come to Changi as its new Terminal 4—the first to deploy end-to-end unmanned check-in and transit through facial recognition tech—foreshadows the airport of the future.

- Al Gerard De La Cruz

When the new Terminal 4 of Singapore’s Changi International Airport opened in 2017, architect Mink Tan was among the awestruck observers. One of the panel of judges at this year’s Property Guru Asia Property Awards (Singapore), which saw T4 win the Special Recognition for Public Facility, Tan is no stranger to leadingedge infrastructure design. But when he first visited the new terminal, the founder of architectural practice Minkke Architects admits he was “absolutely, pleasantly shocked.”

“T4 exceeded my expectation,” says Tan. “And I don’t think I’m exaggerating because I hear fellow friends in the industry echoing the same thoughts.”

Clean, efficient, safe, secure—T4 is on brand for Changi, which has some 560 awards under its belt and has consistently rated as the world’s best airport. T4 is the first Changi terminal to deploy end-to-end Fast and Seamless Travel (FAST), a system that empowers departing passengers to perform self-service and undergo automated verification processes from check-in to boarding.

The two-storey, 25-metre high structure replaces the Budget Terminal (BT) that opened in 2006 as a no-frills wing of Changi. With a capacity of seven million passengers per annum, BT ran its course against the double-digit growth of low-cost carriers (LCCs) and had to be torn down for a full service successor.