Heathrow's new airport 'cathedral'

• Heathrow's new Terminal 2 will open June 2 and handle up to 20 million passengers per year


• The terminal features a 78-meter sculpture designed to resemble the turbulence of a tumbling stunt plane


• Architect Luis Vidal says the terminal is a 'cathedral for the 21st century.'

London, England (CNN) -- The dust sheets were yanked off London Heathrow's gleaming new passenger terminal Wednesday, revealing what its chief architect says is a "cathedral for the 21st century" that'll change air travel for good.

Terminal 2, otherwise known as the Queen's Terminal, features vaulted ceilings filled with natural light that are designed to guide up to 20 million passengers a year exactly to where they want to be.

Disappointingly, it still looks like an airport building anywhere in the world.

That's not to say it doesn't have its merits -- as airport buildings go, Queen's Terminal will certainly be among the most pleasant when it carries its first flight on June 4.

It'll also help ease some of the air traffic congestion that has left Heathrow struggling to maintain its former status as Europe's chief aviation hub against rivals serving Amsterdam and Frankfurt.

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The terminal was showcased this week when journalists were invited to the unveiling of a gigantic airborne sculpture of twisting metal.

London Heathrow Airport has unveiled its new Terminal 2, otherwise known as the Queen's Terminal. Artist Richard Wilson says his "Slipstream" artwork inside the terminal's wide atrium shows Britain is the "world's cultural capital."

The new Terminal 2 is part of an $18.5 billion master plan to remodel Heathrow Airport on the lines of Atlanta's international airport.

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II will officially open Heathrow's Terminal 2 in June.

The new terminal will accommodate 26 airlines flying to more than 50 destinations.

Glass skylights bring in natural light while changing LED lights are supposed to reflect the mood of passengers. What color is grumpy?

The lounge area is designed to be a calm, relaxing and acoustically comfortable place, according to its architect.

Journalists eye the closed duty free booze shop as they tour the terminal.

The terminal will feature at least 81 self-service check-in machines and will handle up to 20 million passengers annually.

The lounge features several sculptures. Is this one made from car windscreen wipers?

British artist Richard Wilson says his "Slipstream" sculpture is inspired by a tumbling stunt plane

The terminal is designed so that it can easily be expanded when demolition of other buildings opens up space.

Afraid of flying? Afraid of bulls? Steer clear of this Terminal 2 eatery.

No brand new terminal is complete without a state of the art dot matrix printer.

Heathrow's new Terminal 2

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Heathrow's new Terminal 2

'Cultural capital'

The 78-meter aluminum work entitled "Slipstream" was created by artist Richard Wilson to fill a wide atrium that passengers will cross when connecting to road and rail networks.

Inspired by the turbulence of a tumbling plane, it hangs from a series of pillars and resembles the riveted fuselage of a muscular vintage aircraft -- and a whale.

"It is a statement that says you've arrived in the cultural capital of the world," says Wilson.

Moving on through the airport, travelers pass through a broad hall filled with rows of security gates and into a huge central atrium that contains the lounge, shopping and dining areas.

There's more sculpture here, although on a less impressive scale -- one artwork resembles a tangle of windshield wipers.

Overhead, the undulating steel-framed roof is illuminated by glass skylights and LEDs that lead architect Luis Vidal says will change color "to accommodate the mood of the passenger."

The lounge is bordered on one side by vast windows that look out onto the airport canopy, with most gates within just a few minutes' walk.

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"It's a very legible building," says Vidal, who describes his Terminal as a "piazza" to rival London's Covent Garden that will become a destination in its own right.

Soft launch

"Passengers can understand it very easily," says Vidal. "You can see how far you are from your plane, which makes you more relaxed."

The $4.2 billion building is certainly an improvement on the oppressive low ceilings and cramped quarters of the old Terminal 2, which closed five years ago after more than 50 years of service.

It will accommodate 26 airlines, including United, Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Singapore Airlines and others among the global Star Alliance, and connect to more than 50 destinations.

"Nowhere else in the world do you have as many airlines flying to a single airport as you do in London," says Mark Schwab, Star Alliance's CEO.

Heathrow officials say they plan to ease the new terminal into operation, presumably to lessen the risk of repeating the chaos that engulfed the 2008 launch of the airport's prestigious Terminal 5.

John Holland-Kaye, Heathrow's development director, says just one flight is planned on the opening day, but there were no guarantees everything would run smoothly.

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The new terminal arrives amid a campaign, led by London mayor Boris Johnson, to close Heathrow and build a new high-capacity airport in a river estuary on the other side of the city.

It's a plan unlikely to derail Heathrow's $18.5 billion long-term plan to remodel the airport along the lines of Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson airport -- the world's busiest.

Holland-Kaye said the Terminal 2 would help alleviate some of the current problems, but officials would still pursue a "politically complex" campaign to build an environmentally controversial third runway.

"We are ready and able and have private money to deliver the hub airport that Britain needs and deserves," he said.