DEPARTURE HALL LANDMARK
What does the first moment of departure say?
the challenge
Design a wall treatment that orients passengers toward security - restrained yet visually distinct enough for a high-traffic hall that never closes.
the outcome
Concept development, design iterations, spatial models, prototype fabrication and evaluation for the departure hall's "jewell" wall.
TYPE:
Spatial Experience
CLIENT:
Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) & Boston Logan Airport
Collaborators:
Fennick McCredie Architecture
KEYWORDS:
Environmental Design, Physical Prototyping, Spatial Perception
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The airport's opening statement — and its most chaotic moment
The ticket hall is where passengers enter an airport's system. Luggage everywhere. Check-in queues that shift unpredictably. The low-grade pressure of time not yet resolved. Most passengers push through it as fast as they can. Most environments amplify that urgency rather than absorb it. The space sets a tone — usually the wrong one.
Logan needed a design intervention to establish a sense of order without shouting. Distinct enough to function as a landmark, restrained enough not to compete with the environment, and practical — functional, easy to maintain, and durable enough for one of the airport's busiest spaces.
A "Jewell" Wall to Anchor the Space
We developed design concepts through iterative perception studies and material research, testing how different treatments read at close range and from longer distances — under varying light conditions and passenger densities. Prototypes were fabricated and evaluated to validate visual effect and maintenance requirements before finalizing the design.
The result is a pre-security landmark that functions as an environmental cue: the kind of design passengers respond to without knowing why, which is the only kind that works at scale.
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