The Wall Street Journal: Architects design airports to enhance passenger flow using intuitive wayfinding and flexible spaces.
The Wall Street Journal - Architect Explains Hidden Airport Design Tricks That Guide Travelers | WSJ Pro Perfected
Architects like Peter Ruggiero focus on designing airports that guide passengers intuitively without relying heavily on signs. This involves using architectural elements like massive windows, curved pathways, and ceiling designs to direct flow. For example, Atlanta International Airport uses ceiling slopes to guide travelers. The traditional linear check-in counters are being replaced with perpendicular or island configurations to improve visibility and flow. Security areas are designed with lower ceilings to minimize the impact of barriers while accommodating more passengers through flexible spaces. Retail areas are now integrated into open hubs to increase visibility and passenger spending. The layout of terminals, whether linear or curved, affects both plane efficiency and passenger experience, with wide paths and level changes enhancing spatial awareness. Arrivals areas are being redesigned to offer a more welcoming experience, as seen in LaGuardia's Terminal B.
Key Points:
- Intuitive wayfinding uses architecture to guide passengers, reducing reliance on signs.
- Perpendicular check-in counters improve visibility and passenger flow.
- Flexible security areas accommodate more passengers and new technologies.
- Open retail hubs increase passenger spending by improving visibility.
- Terminal layouts balance plane efficiency with passenger experience.
Details:
1. ✈️ Navigating Airports Without Signs
1.1. Innovative Design Strategies
1.2. Impact of Increased Passenger Travel
2. 🛬 Landside and Airside Dynamics
- Airports are divided into landside and airside areas, with traditional linear check-in counters being a focal point on the landside.
- The linear arrangement of check-in counters was suitable when all travelers needed to stop for boarding passes, but now multiple paths exist for different traveler needs.
- Families, elderly, and infrequent travelers prefer counters for assistance, while frequent travelers often check-in online and proceed directly to security.
- The traditional counter placement blocks visibility and traffic flow, suggesting a need for better visibility and traffic management.
- Rotating counters to be perpendicular to entrances, forming an island configuration, improves traffic flow and visibility, allowing travelers to continue their journey without backtracking.
- Intuitive wayfinding, using the space itself rather than relying solely on signage, enhances traveler navigation.
- Atlanta International Airport uses ceiling design to guide travelers by creating a sense of compression towards the airside.
- LAX uses high contrast floor patterns to delineate walking paths from queues, aiding in circulation and space demarcation.
- Effective space design should naturally guide travelers, with signage serving as a confirmation of direction.
3. 🔍 Security Challenges and Innovations
- The TSA requires a barrier between the non-secure landside and secure airside, which reduces transparency and interrupts passenger flow.
- Security design now incorporates lower ceiling areas to minimize the intrusive presence of security walls, enhancing passenger experience while meeting security requirements.
- In July 2024, the TSA set a new record by screening over 3 million people in one day, demonstrating the need for accommodating more passengers over time.
- Flexible spaces are being designed instead of fixed structures like bathrooms or mechanical rooms, allowing for easy expansion of security areas to accommodate new machines and methods.
- Parallel divestment allows multiple passengers to process their belongings simultaneously, reducing wait times and increasing efficiency.
4. 🛍️ Retail and Passenger Flow
- Passenger spending in terminals decreases by 30% for every 10 minutes spent in security lines, highlighting the importance of efficient passenger flow.
- Airports and airlines are investing billions in renovations to create open retail hubs with clear sight lines, enhancing accessibility and visibility of retail options.
- Design elements such as floor patterning, soffit shapes, and lighting configurations are used to guide passenger circulation without prescribing a specific path, improving the retail experience.
5. 🛤️ Airport Layouts and Passenger Experience
- Linear satellite terminals, such as those in Atlanta and Denver, enhance efficiency by allowing planes to be placed entirely around the perimeter. However, passengers often need to use underground shuttles or trains to move between terminals, which can diminish their spatial awareness and sense of being at the airport.
- Curved and finger layouts, while constraining plane movements, keep passengers above ground, thereby maintaining their spatial awareness and connection to the airport environment.
- Sharp 90-degree turns in airport layouts can reduce transparency and limit sight lines, negatively impacting passenger experience.
- Conversely, wide, curved paths improve sight lines and, when combined with level changes, offer a bird's eye view that helps reduce passenger anxiety and stress.
6. 🏙️ Arrivals: The Airport's Front Door
- Airport arrivals areas are often overlooked compared to departures, negatively affecting the first impression of a city.
- Peter's redesign of LaGuardia's Terminal B features cascading escalators for arrivals, offering an elevated view of the departures hall before reaching baggage claim, thus enhancing the visual experience.
- The redesign aims to create a memorable and seamless airport experience by making processes like check-in and security almost invisible, improving overall passenger satisfaction.
- Projects are approached from two perspectives: utility and delight, focusing on both functionality and enhancing the passenger experience.
