Elevating aviation’s future

What are the world’s airports asking from architects when it comes to building new facilities or enhancing existing ones? Corgan’s Jonathan Massey provides his thoughts.

While change is inevitable, it seems that the aviation industry has seen more than its fair share over the past 30 years, perhaps driven by the fact that the industry transports over four billion passengers annually, all with evolving needs, perspectives and expectations.

While key measures of success such as commercial revenue, operational efficiency, resiliency and passenger experience will always be part of an airport’s mission, the aviation sector is inexorably bound to the ever-changing needs and desires of the evolving society which it serves.

Cultural change

Numerous factors continually push us to adapt airports and aviation operations. First and foremost is technology, which is woven into every facet of our lives, and is shaping both passengers’ expectations of and interactions with their environment.

Additionally, there is a growing focus on a new spectrum of demographics, hidden disabilities, and passenger types. This shift requires looking more closely at the human side of the aviation equation and asking questions such as:

• What are the expectations of our passengers and our employees?
• What is it like to navigate the terminal with a young family, with an elderly parent, or with a hidden disability?
• How are passengers using their personal technology in their journey from kerbside to jet bridge?
• How can the terminal design aspects lower a passenger’s anxiety?
• Does the environment make it difficult to retain staff?

By integrating diverse perspectives and experiences into the design process, the airport designers and stakeholders can create spaces that better serve the growing, and changing, passenger population.

Fixed obstacles and innovation

A key challenge in aviation is that society changes its needs and wants much faster than airports can change to align with those expectations.

Airports are large, highly complex projects that often take more than a decade to bring to fruition. Traditional industry mechanisms which determine the speed of design and construction, regulatory approvals processes and project funding have not changed significantly in decades.

The design and construction industries are not particularly nimble, but for good reason: adherence to numerous building codes, regulatory requirements, and the traditions of the architecture and construction professions form a complex matrix that limits the speed and agility of both renovations and new builds.

Because of this, airports must develop new strategies to adapt facilities to the changing needs of the industry and travelling public in a more targeted and timely manner.

Whether this is dealing with the need for accelerated development using innovative design and construction techniques, finding ways to improve the passenger experience, or addressing the desires of the travelling public for a more memorable and curated experience during their journey, the aviation industry must pioneer new methods. Here are a few examples of recent strides in this area:

– Modular construction

An innovative trend in optimising airside construction is the deployment of large-scale, off-site modular fabrication. This method allows for faster on-site construction, meaning fewer disruptions to airport operations during construction.

At Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) — the world’s busiest gateway — modular construction is being used to increase Concourse D by 60% while keeping the airport fully operational.

Built in the 1980s for small regional aircraft, the concourse is the narrowest at ATL with few amenities. When the airport funded the $1.4 billion expansion project to widen and modernise Concourse D to hold larger airplanes and regional jets, Corgan, in partnership with Goode Van Slyke Architecture, was enlisted to facilitate the planning, architecture and interior design, and decided on modular construction.

Giant core and shell modular sections are prefabricated off-site and transported two miles to the concourse. Functioning as massive building blocks, steel modules ranging from 29 to 96 feet wide and 96 to 189 feet long are inserted into frames that connect to the current terminal.

This phased approach limits gate downtime, which maintains consistent revenue and minimises passenger disruptions.

– Targeted experiential enhancements

Today’s designers can be smarter and create more effective spaces by gathering empirical information around real-time experiences in airports.

This data enables airports and airlines to make informed decisions regarding human experience, thus driving higher value to investments in time, money and effort.

This can be seen in action as Corgan’s research and innovation group, Hugo, is using real-time data to look for trends, patterns, and gaps between actual experiences and passenger expectations.

At Ontario International Airport (ONT), this innovative process mapped the passenger journey, revealing challenges and identifying strategic, targeted improvements the airport could make.

This data-driven approach identified quick fixes for necessary improvements, investment strategies to make substantial improvements, and future whole-building solutions.

Based on Corgan’s findings, ONT is implementing a variety of strategic changes: the airport added biophilia and vegetation to address areas that had elevated CO2 levels that cause irritability and physical discomfort, vertical vegetation at escalators to reduce vertigo and disorientation in elderly travellers, and digital amenity maps to improve visibility to amenities, reduce passenger anxiety, and boost engagement with concessions to increase non-aeronautical revenue.

Hugo also investigated staff experiences and behaviours, which has resulted in a new training programme to improve staff – passenger interactions.

– Enhanced premium amenities

In the post-pandemic world, there is a growing trend of gathering experiences versus gathering belongings. A testament to that is the growing popularity of premium lounges and amenities in airport terminals.

Once solely reserved for airline frequent flyers, a new generation of lounges has emerged catering to infrequent travellers willing to pay for a single elevated experience, as well as corporate lounges seeking to build brand loyalty for their financial or other products.

Simultaneously, younger generations are increasingly interested in lounges: data collected by Airport Dimensions indicates that 70% of Millennial and Gen Z travellers say more lounge options would improve their travel experience.

In airport lounges across the US, there has been a rise in new types of amenities like family/playrooms, luxury spas and meditation rooms.

Beyond providing a respite, airports are increasingly interested in creating a sense of ‘place’ via lounge design, as exemplified through Corgan’s work designing some of the world’s most innovative and traveller-focused lounges in cities including Austin, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, New York, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Washington DC.

At San Francisco International Airport, The Club SFO incorporates locally inspired design and amenities, such as a cozy micro-climate ‘living room’ complete with vapor fireplace and radiant heating, along with materials that reflect the Northern California redwood forests.

As lounge options increase, it’s important for brands to differentiate themselves. Lounge operators and airports alike are looking for spaces that reflect their ethos and the local culture — and that create a memorable experience that stays with passengers long after their trip is over.

Shaping the unknown

If there is one thing that is certain in the aviation industry, it is that change is inevitable. While the industry has made strides to adapt to shifting values and expectations, there is always more room for innovation.

As airports look for ways to improve the passenger journey at the pace of their passenger’s evolving expectations, stakeholders can look to new construction modalities, smart data collection and analysis, and place-making designs to achieve the global travel experience that we all strive for.

About the author

Jonathan Massey is the managing principal and aviation sector leader at global architecture and design firm Corgan.