Have A Nice Flight

Tim Martin, director of aviation and transport at Perkins+Will architecture firm, on why airport interior design should be intuitive and adaptable

What are the key tenets of airport interior design?

Airports are multifaceted spaces, where passengers want to have a hassle-free experience and get through as efficiently and quickly as possible. Our job as interior designers is to aid that process by giving them easy intuitive wayfinding gestures to find their next pulse point.

Over eight million people pass through airports each day. While airports come in different forms and scales, the design and build programmes for them take place over a long period of time, therefore the interior design needs to be timeless and be able to adapt to the changing needs of the passenger and operator, even during the design and planning stages.

From the point of view of passengers, airports can be stressful, so the interiors should be clutter-free. We suggest a large gesture or moment in the design with smaller repeating gestures around the airport to make the space recognisable and memorable for that Instagram moment. Once a passenger is past a favourable first impression, they will start to understand the rhythm of the airport and the connections between the repeated smaller gestures.

How has the airport design changed over the years?

The aviation industry has grown significantly over the last three decades or so, and continues to do so year-on-year with passenger numbers going up. The industry is adapting well but it’s also more