Spanish architect Luis Vidal, principal of Madrid-based Luis Vidal + Architects, is just 44, but he’s already become one of the world’s top airport designers, with major projects in Spain (Madrid, Pamplona, Murcia, Reus, and other cities) and Poland (Warsaw). His current aviation project is the new T2 terminal at London’s Heathrow, scheduled to open in 2014. Although Vidal spends several weeks each year in San Francisco, he’s never done a project in the United States. But that could change. And no, he’s not designing a new U.S. airport. For now, at least, he’s leapfrogged past that to design a concept for a spaceport. Vidal is working with the American engineering and architecture firm HDR to design a spaceport at a tiny Colorado facility, Front Range Airport, about six miles from Denver International Airport.
Backers hope the spaceport will become a global hub for space travel and research. The project has the support of Colorado governor John Hickenlooper, who earlier this year said, “A spaceport [allows] us to conceive of flying to Australia in a couple of hours.” Provided, of course, there’s another spaceport in Australia.
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