Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Airport Ceilings, Vol. 1

The architects who design airports seem to put a lot of effort into ceilings.  Maybe they anticipate that those of us inside will spend a lot of time gazing upward -- out of boredom, or exasperation, or in search of divine succor in one form or another. 






















Paris Charles de Gaulle, Terminal 2, F Gates.  Beautiful, impressive, audacious, and generally uncomfortable to spend any amount of time in.  Not unlike Paris.  Although this is a step up aesthetically from the rest of of CDG, which has the design sensibilities of the Death Star.



















Geneva International Airport, A Gates.  My home airport tries hard to be sophisticated and modern yet approachable, with little touches like the Rick and Ilse photo display here (Rhett and Scarlett are downstairs on the way to baggage claim).  I'm not sure if they completely pull it off, but I'm not complaining, especially as I can get from my front door to a departure gate in less than 30 minutes.  A direct to Boston would really be nice though.




















Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Schiphol Plaza.  Steampunk mushrooms.




















Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, Terminal 1 Security.   Heh, heh, "grass," get it?  I sense a theme developing.



















Boston Logan International Airport, Terminal E.  Going for the high school gymnasium vibe -- I expect to see a "State Champions, Girls Tennis, 1983" banner around the corner.  The nod toward internationalism is welcome, especially in a US airport, although the super-sized stars and stripes doesn't let you forget who's numero uno here.





















I found this in my photo files without a label, and I'm actually not sure where this is.  I think maybe Porto, Portugal?   It's pretty though.




























Aeroporto di Milano-Malpensa.  Not much to look at on the ceiling, but the floor looks like outer space, especially if you squint your eyes a little.





























Flughafen Zürich, my Favorite Airport in the World.  Calm, quiet, well-conceived with earth-tone marble and high windows and the corny-but-irresistable tram to Terminal E with the cowbell / alpenhorn soundtrack and the Zoetrope Heidi.  Swiss Quality, indeed.


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