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* * wayfinding principles for the airport terminal

issues

The BAA airport wayfinding study concluded that adding more and more directional signs to the terminal environment becomes counter-productive after a time. It identified a number of essential architectural requirements that can contribute to the ability of people to find their way instinctively through the airport process:

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the need for all entrances to be marked in a special, recognisable and consistent way that conveys a sense of welcome;

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the need for the internal layout upon entrance to orient visitors by immediately communicating itself in a way that makes the visitor confident of their direction within the space;

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the needs for a consistent and heightened design language to prepare travellers for the key processing points (check-in, security and customs etc);

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the need for environmental triggers to tell passengers that a distinct threshhold has been crossed from one stage of the airport process to the next;

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the need for the treatment of space at any wayfinding decision point to visually present competing options in a way that reflects their relative significance

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the need for all exits from the airport environment to convey a reassuring sense of completion.

While these are necessarily functional, the overall title of the study - ‘Process to Pleasure’ - reflected the aspiration that the processing of people and baggage in become terminals should become less bureaucratic and stressful, and more pleasurable and intuitive.

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