Air Traffic Control Tower Design
ATC tower architecture — sightline-driven cabs, ICAO-compliant heights, integrated into terminal master plans.
Foster + Partners designs air-traffic-control towers as integrated architectural elements of the airport master plan rather than purely functional engineering objects. The studio's tower work — including the ATC tower at Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok — addresses cab sightline geometry to every runway threshold and taxiway intersection, ICAO Annex 14 height clearances, controller ergonomics, glare and reflection management on the cab glazing, and seismic / wind loading on slender vertical structures. New commissions in Saudi Arabia (Riyadh KSAU master-plan area) and on Red Sea Project airports apply the same approach. Towers published at Revit LOD 400 with controller-line-of-sight simulation overlaid on airfield geometry.
Key specs
| Typical tower height | 60 – 120 m above runway level |
| Cab floor area | 80 – 250 m² |
| Cab glazing tilt | 15 ° outward (anti-glare) |
| Sightline coverage | 360 ° unobstructed |
| Wind / seismic design | Bespoke per regional code |
| Controller positions per cab | 6 – 16 |
| ICAO compliance | Annex 14 obstacle limitation surfaces |
| Reference projects | Hong Kong Chek Lap Kok ATC · Stansted ATC · GCC commissions |