Intent of stansted airport

Foster’s ideas for this airport embody a notion of romantic and
functional simplicity evoked through convenient and direct
visual links from ground transit to air.

To make    To To make To make   flying an uplifting experience, he reasoned that architecture should celebrate the events of arriving and departing.
Consequently, rather than emphasize the experience of the terminal building, Foster aimed at subjugating all its complexities and distractions to the dominant clarity of hopping off a train and onto an airplane.
The rural context also shaped his design intent. Given the flat countryside and rural setting, the scale was to be
kept low and unobtrusive.