ABSTRACT
This chapter examines contemporary international air terminals that include ‘intuitive’ designs to facilitate wayfinding. It considers how architects incorporate retail and food services into their plans and how this sometimes hampers their ability to provide transparent designs with regard to wayfinding and navigation. The chapter focuses on air terminal interiors with regard to circulation, and it aims to provide the reader with an overview of various types of air terminal layouts. The twenty-first-century air terminal, Brian Edwards argues, is akin to a cathedral architecturally in relation to its structure and manipulation of light. Planners are trying to design airports where passengers rely less on signage and navigate the terminal primarily on an intuitive level. Schiphol’s terminal has been expanded numerous times since it opened in 1967 and is an example of accretion. The airport has gradually added new distinct terminal structures in response to increasing passenger traffic.
