Driving up, checking in, passport control, shopping, waiting, boarding (and vice versa) are the various stages at an airport that can be experienced by means of an appropriate sequence of spaces. Smaller airports permit this handling at a distance at which passengers can always see where they are going. The concept of the sequence of spaces is based on the scale of viewing distance. The precondition was to create an end-to-end concourse roof with a generous overhead light and clearly divided installations ensuring that passengers can look through into neighbouring zones not only in the in-between spaces. The aim was not merely to match particular functions to the sequence of spaces. Instead, this also permitted very different façade designs looking onto the forecourt and airfield and careful definition of inner transition areas (including curtains). Each separate zone, that automatically indicates your current position in the check-in procedure, is additionally instrumentalised by the visual presence of the transition to the previous and following layer of space. The usual process of entering a world consisting entirely of symbols and thereby losing your physical bearings (and the ensuing sense of unease) is moderated. Here the architecture takes back a terrain, a space of sensory experience, which also serves to calm the mind.
(Abbreviated text: Friedrich Achleitner)
