There’s neat article in BusinessWeek this morning about the design of airports, accompanied by a gorgeous slideshow.
[Ron Steinert, principal at aviation architectural design specialist, Gensler, said,] “There has been a real sea-change towards this. In the old days, the airlines thought of airports as a service industry that provided space to them and their passengers. Now, airports see airlines as providing a service to their customers. It’s a total change in the way airports are looking at themselves. They’re realizing that they have to run themselves as businesses, to make money and provide a high level of service, or passengers will go elsewhere. Take the East Coast of the U.S.: There’s an airport virtually every 10 miles. If you don’t like one, you’ll go to another.”
You might want to take a look at Naked Airport about a history of terminal design. It’s a pretty quick read, but theres some fascinating information.
I’m not sure that a description of Kansai International airport as being the “most earthquake proof” makes it appealing as a destination! I think I’d rather choose a more boring airport to go through if I were flying to Japan.
Huh. Pittsbrugh’s airport turned semi-resort in 1991. Not sure, in the big scope of things, how ‘new” that is….