How Living Walls Can Transform Terminals From ‘Non-Places’ to Natural Space
Sourced from Passenger Terminal Today
Richard Sabin, managing director of living wall manufacturer Biotecture, looks at how incorporating living walls within passenger terminals can help improve well-being, boost relaxation, calm nervous passengers and bring about a whole host of other benefits.
Back in 1995, the anthropologist Marc Auge labelled airports as ‘non-places’, which are devoid of identity, look the same the world over and which exist with the sole purpose of moving people efficiently from one place to another.
Fast forward almost 30 years and airport passenger terminals now feature world-class shopping, fine dining, cinemas, skating rinks and even wedding chapels. Rather than non-places, airports such as Changi in Singapore have now become tourist destinations in themselves.
Modern airport design places customer experience front and center, and cultivating a feeling of calmness and well-being is central to achieving this.
Airports have long used color, design elements, natural light and visual cues to help create a calm, relaxed environment. However, airports such as London Heathrow and Muscat International are now going one step further by incorporating lush green spaces such as living walls to their interior and exterior spaces – to great effect.
As a society, we typically spend around 80-90% of our time indoors, in ‘unnatural’ environments. There is now overwhelming evidence of the value of adding plants and living walls to our indoor spaces, from offices and hospitals to shopping malls and airports.
From the Living Architecture Monitor
