As more and more passengers take to the skies, airports are becoming busier than ever. But while navigating New York’s JFK or LAX Airport might seem like a daunting prospect, especially when you’re running late, imagine how much pressure was on the architects who actually designed those spaces. Here are some of the subtle tricks airport designers use when crafting the most efficient way to get you from point A to point B.
Intuitive Wayfinding
Airports have a lot of signage and screens: Departures and arrivals, security checkpoints, terminals, and gates are all indicated that way. While necessary, airport signage can also become overwhelming — how many times have you followed the signs for TSA PreCheck only to turn around after realizing the arrow pointing you in one direction resulted in you overshooting it?
Enter intuitive wayfinding, which is just what it sounds like: a method of guiding travelers toward their destination in a way that feels natural and doesn’t require them to stop and think about it. This covers everything from color palettes to lighting, signage design, typography, and iconography.
Intuitive wayfinding often uses a series of visible destinations, which, in an airport setting, might mean being able to see the check-in kiosks as soon as you walk in the doors, being able to see the TSA line from the check-in area, and, finally, being able to see the departure gates as soon as you put your shoes back on.
Some airports also use escalators and elevated spaces that offer passengers a bird’s-eye view of a space before navigating it, allowing them to get the lay of the land early, as well as curved hallways that increase their line of sight.
Landside vs. Airside
Implementing intuitive wayfinding is easier said than done, especially because of security requirements. Airports are broadly divided into two sections, landside and airside, with security checkpoints acting as a barrier between them.
The landside is where you first enter the airport and includes the curbside where passengers are dropped off, check-in desks, and the arrival hall. The airside is everything else: departure gates, gift shops, restaurants, and, of course, the actual taxiways and runways. That divide, which is regulated by the Transportation Security Administration, can decrease visibility as passengers navigate through a terminal — leaving an airport designer’s best-laid plans to be thrown to the wayside.
One work-around architects have used is installing high ceilings in the landside area and slanting ceilings lower as they reach the security area. This naturally draws travelers’ eyes toward security, which functions as a middle ground between where you start out and where you want to be.
Flexible Functionality
The busier airports get, the busier security gets. In July 2024, the TSA set a new record by screening more than 3 million passengers in a single day, equal to 35 people per second over a 24-hour period. That number is likely to be broken again sooner rather than later, which means a number of security checkpoints will have to be continually expanded. Architects have that in mind when designing airports, which is why you’re more likely to see offices nearby rather than bathrooms — they’re easier to replace.
This isn’t just efficiency for efficiency’s sake. Airports are businesses, too, and retail makes up a large portion of their revenue. One study found that every 10 minutes a passenger spends in security corresponds to a 30% decrease in spending once they’ve reached the terminal.
Because of this, a lot of thought also goes into the design of airport retail spaces. One design trick you may not have picked up on: Walkways through duty-free shops often curve to the left, with more items displayed on the right-hand side. Why? Because the majority of people are right-handed, they are naturally inclined to look there in the first place.
Final Destination
There’s a good chance that the only airports you can recall with any detail are those you’ve traveled through the most. Many baggage claim areas look like a glorified basement, and by the time you land on the other side of the world, you’re probably too jet-lagged to appreciate a well-designed space.
But some architects are striving for a more memorable experience that doesn’t just help you reach your destination — it becomes part of the trip itself. The philosophies mentioned here are how they’re achieving that goal, and, luckily for us, their bag of tricks is only getting more plentiful.
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