Gateway to the Olympics.

Beijing International Airports new terminal (terminal 3) opened back in march this year. This is another huge piece of architecture that has been built for the Olympic Games which start on the 8th of August.
This terminal is not just any ordinary airport terminal, It has been referred to as a small country rather than an airport, Its the worlds largest covered building in terms of area and cost $3.6 billion to construct, It is larger than all the terminals of London’s Heathrow airport put together, And was also designed by the same architect - Lord Norman Foster.

The terminal has taken just 4 years from conception to completion whereas most airport projects take a decade or more to complete and usually involve lengthy reviews, detailed assessments, planning committees, public hearings and environmental impact statements... but not so in China.

Approximately 45.5 million airline passengers visited Beijing last year which makes it the ninth busiest airport in the world and Beijing is expecting 60m visitors this year, thanks to the Olympics which is why terminal 3 had to be built (and quickly). The annual passenger capacity of Beijing International Airport has been increased from 35million with two terminals to 85million with all three.

But what use is the busiest airport and largest terminal without a massive baggage system. Beijing Airport has a new computerized system that can process 20,000 bags per hour. Passengers will apparently be able to pick up their baggage within 5 minutes of the plane unloading.

The structure is said to resemble a Chinese dragon divided into three sections and the triangular windows signify the dragon's scales. The terminal is two miles long and half a mile wide, And the center on Housing Rights and Evictions, says that 1.25 million people have been moved from their homes to make way for construction.