Airport Experience® News - 20 Years of the AX Conference

North adds that airports were ill-equipped to manage the shift in areas of priority. “The infrastructure of existing terminals was never intended to accommodate the space required by enlarged security checkpoints and the footprint of massive baggage screening equipment,” he says. As airports grappled with new safety guidelines, the passenger’s ease of travel was not prioritized as it once was. As Ax notes, “Because of the new heightened focus on passenger safety, accommodating the passenger experience was lost.” Thankfully, the industry eventually found its footing in the post-9/11 world - just as it has in the post-pandemic world - and refocused on the importance of overall passenger experience, which can be seen especially in the evolution of the look and feel of the airport. From increased reliance on tech solutions to ease travel to heavy emphasis on regional identities and unique concepts, airport designs have progressed dramatically over the past 20 years. They’ve become more innovative both aesthetically and practically - as well as significantly more expensive to build out - than ever before. Shifting Priorities Ty Osbaugh, global practice area leader in aviation for Gensler , notes that 20 years ago, with the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in its infancy, the biggest obstacle for airport designers was the introduction of cumbersome new scanning devices, plus new security lines and processes. In the years since then, airport technology and processing has gotten much better. “The TSA even uses the word ‘experience’ to describe their screening offering now - we’ve come a long way,” he says. “It’s also hard to wrap your head around the notion that 20 years ago there was no iPhone, and everything we did at airports was analog and paper-based. The biggest disruptor to terminal design in the past 20 years is actually the tool that has defined our lives today: the smartphone that puts all of our data and documents into a digital, portable backbone.”

Indeed, tech advancements boomed in the early 2000s, and Stantec’s North believes 9/11 was a catalyst. “Although the development of online check-in, airline apps, and more accessible and faster gate information would have occurred regardless, 9/11 spurred technological change,” he says. “Boarding passes were no longer paper documents issued by gate agents, but became tied to mobile phones and IT kiosks; flight information was no longer written on chalkboards at gates, but became readily available in multiple flight information display locations and formats.” And these tech innovations trickled beyond check-in and security. “Over the past 10 to 20 years, most airports were incorporating larger food courts to combine kitchen space but also to provide more open, communal areas for passengers,” he says. “That’s also when we began to see technology brought into this space, often through integrated systems on tablets and iPads. Both design strategies had success for a period of time but have drastically evolved over the years, becoming more sophisticated and more recently utilizing passengers’ personal devices.” Navid Fereidooni, another principal architect at Stantec, notes that introducing common-use IT platforms to decrease required space of check-in halls has been a major development in airport design since the early 2000s and has allowed for more space and innovation in concession design. He points to Vancouver International

Above: Ty Osbaugh, global practice area leader in aviation for Gensler, says that the biggest disruptor to airport terminal design in the past 20 years is the smartphone, as it has greatly affected the way passengers move through and interact with the airport.

Airport (YVR) as a North American airport leading the charge in successful designs. YVR pioneered the concept of increasing the usable and performing seating capacity of holdrooms by developing food and beverage venues within sight of the gates, he says. Also, the airport’s opening of the Stantec-designed McArthur Glen Designer Outlet on its campus - Phase 1 of which opened in 2015 - was a significant innovation in driving airport revenue through off-airport activities. Osbaugh points out that San Francisco International Airport (SFO) has continued to be a trailblazer of innovative design. “San Francisco has adopted an aura of experimentation over the past 20 years,” he says. “Many of the larger airports have added capacity in very traditional ways but SFO has grabbed the reins of using passenger environments and allowing for experimentation within the industry.”

Right: San Francisco International Airport has embraced experimentation in designing terminals that enhance the passenger journey, Gensler’s Ty Osbaugh says.

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AX NEWS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2024