New Terminal 2 set to ease overcrowding problems at Britain's Heathrow Airport

The rundown, overcrowded Terminal 2 at London's sprawling Heathrow Airport is long gone, about to be replaced by a spacious new building designed to handle 20 million passengers each year.

The new facility was hailed as a cornerstone of Heathrow's revitalisation when shown to reporters yesterday ahead of the June 4 opening.

Lead architect Luis Vidal said its extensive use of natural light and high-quality acoustics should make it a calm space for travellers accustomed to high anxiety at dark, noisy airports.

"If you make it intuitive, pleasant, joyful, you can take away a completely different memory of the terminal," he said. "You can never completely erase your memory of the former Terminal 2, because it was a dreadful experience."

Part of the rebranding strategy calls for the new Terminal 2 to be known as "The Queen's Terminal". The plan has Queen Elizabeth's blessing - and she plans to officially open the facility, just as she did when the original Terminal 2 opened in 1955.

Filling the entrance to the new terminal stretches artist Richard Wilson's latest work, Slipstream, a monumental feat that has been showered with superlatives before it has even opened. It is the longest piece of permanent art as well as the largest privately funded sculpture in Europe, stretching to 80 metres and weighing 77 tonnes.