Karen Adcock & Carl Turner / Architecure and Interiors

process to pleasure:
instinctive wayfinding at heathrow airport

The second year of a three-year architectural study into inclusive design principles for Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport focused on designing a pilot of user-centred proposals at the Europier in Terminal 1.

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Terminal 5 at Heathrow will be, subject to the public enquiry, Europe's largest airport terminal, making the provision of wayfinding for all a difficult and complex task in such a giant building. The outcome of the first year of the study was a series of strategic measures designed to manage the scale of the building and provide information, orientation and comfort for travellers through a 'sensory landscape'.These proposals were developed in year two of the study for practical application on a test site in Terminal 1, the Europier, a wayfinding 'hotspot'.

In a resulting design scheme, new signage and a colour coding system identified key routes; applied seasonal window imagery and a 'chromawall' with coloured bands increasing in intensity sought to reduce perceptions of distance; and a lighting installation illuminated the key decision point for arriving passengers. Elements were costed for construction and the study will now go into a third year to assess the built prototype with users, conduct a parallel analysis of wayfinding solutions in other industries and develop a web-based inclusive design resource for the BAA Terminal 5 design team.

See last year's project information

Research partner: BAA plc

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