The future of airport design

Airport operators face growing passenger numbers, pressure from airlines to reduce landing costs, issues surrounding sustainability and the need to provide increased security. So how can airport design help meet these challenges?

“One needs to understand the issues facing airport operators before you can help solve them,” explains Ian Taylor, a director in Arup’s aviation team. Factors such as rising passenger numbers and slower throughput as a result of heightened security are placing airport infrastructure under pressure, affecting everything from access and car parking to the runways and terminal buildings. At the same time, the revenue used to improve these facilities is also under threat: low-cost airlines are seeking to reduce landing charges, and the end of duty free within the EU (coupled with people making shorter flights) has hit retail sales in terminals. There’s also increased competition between airports, giving passengers a wider choice about where they fly from.

In response, airport operators are seeking to generate as much revenue as possible from retailing and trying to make sure that passengers’ journeys through their terminals are as smooth as possible. Good airport design can help balance the demands of airlines (to get passengers on to their planes quickly and easily) with the needs of airports (to get them to shop on their way through) by focusing on this passenger journey.

“Factors such as technology and way-finding are crucial to improving efficiency as airport capacity increases,” explains Taylor. “We want people to be able to get through the airport from check-in to boarding without worrying about where they need to go.” If people find it difficult to find where they need to go, they’re less likely to pause to spend money or take away a favourable impression of the airport. Gordon Lland, a technology specialist and director with Arup Communications, highlights the benefits it can bring. “Good way-finding and presenting the right information at the right time in a clear and concise format will improve the passenger experience, encouraging them to turn up on time, spend money and use that airport again,” he explains.

The growth in retail at airports and the refurbishment of existing terminals often results in a confusing mixture of signs for passengers, with old and new signage and way-finding sitting alongside advertisements. Helping people find their way around more effectively is often a matter of using fewer signs to prevent information overload, says Lland. “In our last two projects, we reduced signage by 30 percent, improving its clarity as we did so.”

Airport operators increasingly recognise the importance of an integrated approach to airport design. Technical design now involves specialists from disciplines such as Information technology alongside architects and engineers. They look not only at how the building will work efficiently, but how people might behave inside it, which technology systems it will need and how they can help their clients guide the development through the planning process.

It is also important to consider sustainability when designing buildings and other airport infrastructure – for example, being clever in the use of sustainable or reclaimed materials, and maximising the use of local building products, thereby minimising the energy consumption required to transport goods to site.

But sustainability affects more than just the design of airport facilities. Operators are increasingly aware of the need to set and follow corporate and social responsibility objectives in their activities. “In many cases operators are treading a fine line as they try to find a balance between maximising capacity, minimising costs and minimising the impact on the environment,” Taylor explains.

Ultimately, new terminals and runways are often needed to cope with the pressures being placed on airports. In fact, many experts estimate that airports such as Dublin are already operating over their design capacity. So how can we optimise their facilities to cope, now and in the future?

First, designing airport buildings that will stand for 30 to 40 years means allowing for future advances in areas such as security. And flexibility will also be important as the recent spate of large airport developments (particularly in the Gulf region) comes to an end. “The future of airports is about helping operators find answers to their problems,” Taylor explains. “That’s something Arup hopes to provide by bringing skills from a range of disciplines.”