An Earth-Covered Airport.

• Position: Addendum - Infra Structures - Brief Article

"I CAN'T IMAGINE THE NEXT STEP beyond air travel," wrote the Cape Cod-based environmental architect Malcolm Wells in his book Infra Structures. "Unless vertical take-off for large aircraft becomes economically feasible, the acres of impervious runways and grass will continue to offend the sky. If the planes ever rise directly from the terminal vicinity, the runways can be torn up and the huge open flatlands can be returned to life."

Meanwhile, Wells tries to envision how the large public structures that increasingly cover the natural world--bridges, highways, seaports, and parking lots, as well as airports--can be redesigned in ways that allow nature to thrive over them. He calls his work "underground architecture." At the invitation of WORLD WATCH, Wells took Jim Starry's notion of an inclined runway with the terminal underneath it (pages 26-27), and modified it to envision an earth-covered, round structure--below and opposite.

The illustration of an...