Airport of the Future: Dallas Design Firm Envisions Airports as 'Microcosms of Cities'

A Dallas-based design and architecture firm is hoping to reshape the traveler experience at airports using technological tools to guide its work.

By targeting the senses of airport goers, global architecture firm Corgan used its own technology to make the new concourse at Shanghai Pudong International Airport experience more relaxing.

Since airports tend to house every walk of life, Corgan’s new concourse design at the Shanghai airport is also aiming to be inclusive in its creations. [Rendering courtesy of Corgan]

The firm designed the terminal at Dallas Love Field in 1958. In 2014, Corgan returned to renovate the terminal, producing a contemporary, art-filled space for travelers.

With the number of the world’s senior citizens expected to double in the next 30 years, Corgan wants to narrow in on helping aging passengers navigate airport buildings with less difficulty. Its wayfinder and age stimulation technology is working to solve bodily strain and visual stress.

“These are buildings that evolve as society evolves,” Corgan’s head of aviation practice, Jonathan Massey, told The Dallas Morning News.

“They need to become places to be instead of just transient.”
Jonathan Massey

Corgan’s wayfinder research glasses report eye movement through its vibrations. The data is transferred to a computer screen in real-time, allowing the company to examine the eye’s visual range, drift, fixation density, signage view, and landmark views within the path.

Since airports tend to house every walk of life, Corgan’s new concourse design at the Shanghai airport is also aiming to be inclusive in its creations.

The concourse under construction at Shanghai Pudong International Airport in China. [Photo courtesy of Corgan]

“There are different types of amenities, different types of retail, food and beverage opportunities that appeal to every type of person,” Massey told The Morning News.

As for the future of airports, Corgan wants America and the rest of the world to realize the power of design and technology. Technologies working to redefine the way travelers experience the buildings are expected to front the lines of aviation.

“It’s a place to get your nails done or that has movie theaters or aquariums, kind of microcosms of the cities that they’re in rather than just somewhere to buy a magazine and sit around and wait,” Massey told The Morning News.

“They need to become places to be instead of just transient.”