'Sponge' features to enhance air safety, travel experience

The "sponge" design of Beijing's new airport has been completed, and construction to maximize its environmental and economic effects is underway, designers said.

"Sponge airports and sponge cities mimic sponges, a reference that literally means to absorb, store and purify rainwater and utilize or discharge it when it needed," said Wang Tong, supervisor in the support project department of the Beijing New Airport Construction Headquarters. He is in charge of sponge airport design at the new facility.

"Compared with cities, airports have a larger proportion of asphalt and concrete because of the runways. So it's more difficult to absorb and retain water."