Psychologists consider travel to be one of modern life's most stressful activities. On their scale, stress related to travel lies somewhere between moving, divorce and the loss of a loved one. With this in mind, we felt that it would be appropriate to understand the causes of airport travel stress in order to determine whether design could diffuse, minimize or eliminate it.
On review, we concluded that many airports are perceived by the public as a kind of maze or puzzle, or worse, as an adversary to be overcome. The scenario is well known. You know where the entrance to the airport is and you know somewhere within it is a gate from which you will depart. The challenge for the traveller is to solve the problem of finding the route from one to the other in a limited timeframe, while running the gauntlets of ticketing, security, customs, etc.
In Ottawa, our solution was almost embarrassingly simple: It was "line-of-sight" orientation. From the moment you arrive at the departures level entrances, our design has provided you with a line-of-sight to the ticketing counters for all airlines. From the ticketing counters, you have a direct view to the planes at their gates, the security points and the line-ups you will need to pass through to get to your gate.
In simple terms, you are provided an easy and direct visual understanding of how the airport is organized (i.e., an orientation), which lets you solve the airport "puzzle" before leave the check-in counter or kiosk. As a bonus in our design, you can see the baggage claim hall during your check-in, which provides you with a preview of how to pass through and exit the terminal if you are returning to it.
In keeping with definitions, this quote appropriately sets out bbb's second design conceit for the Ottawa Airport, which is that civic buildings should be ambassadors for their communities. In our pre-design analysis of new terminals across North America, we found that, regardless of functionality or aesthetic, the new generation of airports largely were focused on conveying an international image (i.e., equal to a world standard), and, in so doing, had consciously or unconsciously made no effort to reference or represent their own city.
Our belief was that airports are civic buildings and, as such, they have an obligation to speak for their city and provide travellers with an indelible image of that city. In addition, doing so posed no conflict with being "international" in quality and demeanor.
In Ottawa, we chose to approach the passenger terminal's role of ambassador on two levels. The first was to reference the city subliminally using a pallet of materials directly associated with Ottawa's Parliamentary Precinct. The second was by creating a series of more literal water elements, designed to allude to the city's history and relationship with the three waterways around which it was founded.
Ottawa is, by any standard, a city with a cold climate. As such, we felt that its palate of materials needed to be warm and embracing and that the patinated copper and cappuccino-coloured sandstone of the Canada's Parliament Buildings would set the appropriate tonal balance for the new terminal. At the same time, the materials would subtly tie the modern facility to the historic icons located a few kilometers away.
The water elements were intended to work on a number of levels: as sound screens, historic references and as interior landmarks for orientation. The elements start on the third floor with quick running water over rocks as an allusion to the Chaudière Rapids, around which Ottawa's original lumber mills were situated.
This water then falls theatrically down to the second floor, passing over the security gates in a semblance of the Rideau Falls, which is where the Rideau River plunges hundreds of feet into the Ottawa River.
From here, the water moves slowly and horizontally in a modern stone frame, emulating the historic Rideau Canal, and flows past former Prime Minister Trudeau's canoe. To conclude, the water makes a final drop down to the baggage claim hall through a set of copper gates, which pay homage to the Hartwell Locks, one of the last functioning locks on the Rideau Canal system.
From the user experience, the story is not immediately evident. In fact, few travellers may be aware of the narrative. Nonetheless, the end result provides them an indelible memory, unique to the airport and anchored to the City of Ottawa.
The Ottawa McDonald Cartier International airport has ranked #1 in North America for all airports in the Airport Service Quality program. It is ranked #2 in the world for airports that serve 2-5 million passengers and it was named to the Airports Council International Director General's "Roll of Excellence" for consistently placing in the top three for 5 years in a row!
We cannot help but believe its patrons have truly taken ownership of it.
Ritch Brisbin / principal bbb architects
I am starting with this definition of design because it is consistent with our approach to the design of the Ottawa Macdonald Cartier International Airport. If you accept the definition, and we at bbb we do, then you accept the premise that design has an obligation to help people understand the buildings and spaces they encounter. At bbb, we have another way of saying this - we say that our buildings should "explain" themselves to their users.
We are of the belief that the degree to which a person understands a building, or space, directly relates to the degree he or she can take ownership of it. The idea is simple: if a person is oriented as to where they are in a building, they will be more at home in it.