Pritzker Prize-winning architect Norman Foster has criticised architects that have walked away from designing airports due to concerns about the environmental impact of air travel.
Foster, the founder of the UK's largest architecture studio Foster + Partners, defended his decision to work in the aviation sector and suggested that other studios are being hypocritical by not working on airports.
"I do feel passionately that we have to address the infrastructure of mobility," he said. "We have to reduce its carbon footprint, like everything else. We can't walk away from it. We can't adopt a hypocritical moral stance."
"The carbon footprint of air travel is relatively small"
Speaking on Bloomberg TV show Leaders With Lacqua Goes Green, Foster made the comments in defence of his decision to withdraw his studio from environmental group climate change action group Architects Declare last year. Foster + Partners left the group after it was criticised for working on aviation projects including the Amaala airport in Saudi Arabia.
Norman Foster (top) was criticised for designing Amaala airport (above) in Saudi Arabia
He told host Francine Lacqua that all infrastructure and forms of travel have a carbon footprint and singling out airports was unfair, claiming that air travel only contributes a small percentage of global carbon emissions.
Most estimates calculate that the aviation industry contributes between two and three per cent of total carb...