Subject: Airport Design

From: [email-masked] (samson)
Date: 28 Aug 1996 16:01:19 GMT

I am studying Interior Architecture and Design at The Nottingham Trent University in England. My final year's
dissertation subject researches and investigates how people orientate themselves within airport terminals. 

I have narrowed this down to four principal areas; Structure, Colour and Light, Interior Design and Signage.  I am
now analysing these separately with the aim of discovering what attributes each area can bring to aid passenger
orientation and communication.

I am looking for a number of things and wondered if anyone would be able to help me.

Following this are a number of questions relating, to airport terminal design. If you or a colleague has an opinion
on any of these questions I would very much appreciate your observations. I'd also welcome any other
comments. Please eMail your reply to [email-masked]

I am trying to gather as much primary information as possible so any opinion is welcome.

1.	Can an Architect create a happy medium between those who see architecture from the outside for
example those arriving by aeroplane but also providing interesting, yet clear interior spaces?

2.	It has been said that airports lack "the structured and enjoyable experience that catching a boat or plane
once had." Is this true?

3.	In today's airports retail is given a high priority. Would you like to see less emphasis on retail and
more emphasis on travel or are these areas too closely integrated to allow separation?

4.	"The route from surface to air travel was always conceived as linear and clear". Should this be the
ultimate aim of an airport?

5.	I believe that there are two schools of thought, related to airport structure;

	a) The use of simple forms unrelated to air travel, for example, Stansted

	b) Those who relate the building to forms associated with air travel, for example, Kansai. 

	Can both these ideas work equally as well?

6.	"If you put (people) in an environment as antiseptic as a supermarket and bombard them with canned music
and canned announcements they go into a stubborn zombie-like trance". This is one view on the problems of some
of the world's older airports. Do new airports behave in this manner or not?

7.	It is necessary for me to reference replies in my work and I would appreciate some details of
recipients. If you can please leave your NAME; PROFESSION; POSITION; COMPANY/PRACTICE; COUNTRY OF
RESIDENCE. Your anonymity will be respected however if you would prefer. It is your comments that are most
important.
	
Has anyone had any experience working on any areas of design, furbishment or refurbishment of any airport
in the world and be prepared to answer some questions about the airport. Please contact me at my e-mail
address at [email-masked]

Can anyone give me any names and contact numbers/addresses of people who have worked on the terminals
below (especially the name and address of the architects' practice that designed them) or any other airport
terminal.  I would like to contact them and ask them if they would be prepared to answer a questionnaire.

			Kansai
			Stuttgart 
			Roissy I and II
			Schipol
			JFK
			Hamburg
			Graz

Lastly, can anyone recommend any good books or magazine articles? Can anyone lend/give me any pictures
or photos possibly relevant to my dissertation or have any other information or ideas that I could possibly use or
follow up on?

Thank you very much for reading this and I hope you will be able to help me as I would like to include as much
primary research as possible within my dissertation.