Travel can be taxing, but airports don’t have to be. As architects, we have the opportunity to radically reimagine the passenger experience, Bloomberg reports. In “The Airport Seeks Its Zen,” Principal and Airports Practice Leader Derek A.R. Moore shares insights into how our approach to airport design is deeply rooted in the passenger experience. 

“The biggest calming device we’ve been able to implement is greenery,” says Moore. At Kempegowda International Airport Terminal 2 in Bengaluru, India, for example, we designed a “terminal in a garden” that reimagines the airport experience by connecting passengers to nature at every turn. From the transit hub to the terminal and gates, passengers move through a sequence of spaces marked by distinctive garden elements, including green walls, hanging gardens, and the forest belt, a 90-meter-wide swath of lushly planted landscape.

And at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport—Terminal 2, our design celebrates Mumbai with a structure deeply rooted in the local setting, history, and culture. We maximized natural daylight through multistory light wells, which ensure that light penetrates the lower floors, acting as a constant reminder of the surrounding city and landscape while elevating the passenger experience.