Basler & Hofmann, Zurich Airport, Switzerland

Basler & Hofmann led the renovation of runway 14/32 at Zurich Airport. It is the airport’s main landing runway, in continuous use since it opened. Crews replaced the pavement entirely and laid a new multi-layered asphalt surface. The work ran at night. Excavators arrived at 22:00. By 06:30 the crews had to clean, inspect and clear the runway. The first landing came at 07:00 in the morning. Our engineering photography at Zurich Airport ran on the same schedule. Our session ended before the runway reopened. Nothing staged, no daylight.

The light came from the site’s own floodlights and from the machines. With the runway due to open at seven, the night had a hard stop and no frame had a second attempt. What the Zurich Airport engineering photography shows is a construction site working against a clock that does not move.

Part of our Reportage & Landscape work.