The new Western Sydney International Airport has a specific detail that can easily be overlooked. But if you pay close attention, you’ll understand the reason behind it.
From the kerb to the gate, the veranda at arrival, daylight filters through the timber ceiling, with a layout that guides people without leaning on any signs.
If you have travelled through the airport since its official opening on Sunday, you may have noticed you barely relied on any signs to guide you through the terminal.
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“When you come in through the veranda, you check in, you move upstairs to leave – sitting across the top of you is this idea of an Australian eucalyptus canopy forest,” David Holm, principal of COX Architecture, behind the terminal design alongside ZHA Architects, told news.com.au.
“But it’s gently directing you along in a particular direction i.e. towards your gate and then the reverse is true when you come back through.”
Mr Holm described it as an “architectural device” that floats continuously over the whole terminal, gently guiding you to your gate.
“People get really frustrated and anxious and at times angry if they can’t understand where they’re going or why they’re in a queue,” Mr Holm said.
“So what we have done is let you see the next steps of where you’re going and that’s really important as it helps drop any anxiety and panic.”
Essentially, the architects focused on spatial psychology to remove the typical stress associated with navigating an airport terminal.
“The design and layout is all about trying to comb out any negatives and I think we have been able to achieve that,” Mr Holm added.
“Within this airport building you’ve got a lot of things happening, there’s international departures, there’s international arrivals and then there’s also domestic arrivals and departures. “Most airports throughout Australia separate those, they don’t have them in the one building.
“So, keeping those all subtly and appropriately separated is really important.
“And what we’ve been able to do is to make that all sit underneath this beautiful canopy roof ceiling that gives you that guidance throughout all the time.”
The airport is the first major airport built in Australia in more than half a century and its development from a green field baseline meant the architects could develop a design strategy to create an airport that is uniquely Australian – offering immediate operational agility, multi-decade structural growth, and a deeply localised and calming passenger experience.
Mr Holm said there were talks of a second airport in Sydney back in 2015, then in 2017 he and fellow architect friend, Cristiano Ceccato, director at Zaha Hadid Architects, lodged an application – and won the terminal design.
He said planning began in 2018, adding it has been years in the making.
“There’s been lots of test runs, we’ve had passengers go through doing mock-ups of getting baggage,” Mr Holm said.
“But on Sunday, to see the real public people there, it was quite emotional actually.”
He believes what got their application over the line was how they captured the essence of Western Sydney, and the Australian landscape, through design.
“The materials and finishes are sandstones from Sydney, the terrazzo are modelled on bush leaves, the columns are tapered like eucalyptus gum trees,” he explained.
“We really pushed this idea of being in nature, being in an Australian building so when you land you feel like you’re in Australia and it can become emotional in a sense.”
Mr Holm is one of Australia’s leading aviation and transport architects, having led the design for Sydney Metro Victoria Cross, Parramatta Light Rail, Barangaroo Ferry Wharf, Newcastle Airport’s recent expansion and Changi Airport.
He said working on WSI is a career defining moment for him.
“We feel very lucky to create public architecture and everybody seems to love it.”
COX Architecture and ZHA created the design concept for WSI, which was developed and delivered by Woods Bagot.
