For the first time anywhere in the world, an airport is rethinking the traveller’s experience of its waiting areas, with the creation of Schiphol Airport Park!
It is a place where travellers can rest, work, meet other people, and enjoy food and drink in a space that evokes a park, and has nothing to envy of a park in the countryside.
After passport control, travellers with time to spare can spend it pleasantly in this themed area of the airport, even stepping out onto the roof of Schiphol to enjoy the sunshine!
The park consists of large indoor and outdoor areas (the roof terrace). The indoor space recreates the feeling of a real, open park, with projections of butterflies on the walls and floors, and the sounds of birds, animals, bicycle bells and children playing filling the space.
The green colour, the murals of natural scenes, the lighting, and the predominance of wood, whether in the seating or in the presence of real trees, transport you in your mind to the natural world.
The rest areas surround a 130-year-old tree that has found its new “home” in the Airport Park. Tree stumps serve as benches, comfortable armchairs promise moments of relaxation, and the Park Café serves fresh juices, organic coffee and burgers, effectively turning the park into a “relaxation destination” for travellers!
In the surrounding areas there are charging stations for electronic devices (mobile phones, laptops), which you power by pedalling bicycles that act as generators!
Further reinforcing the eco-conscious character of the project, the park uses LED luminaires almost exclusively, and it has been designed so that natural light reaches the park through optical fibres and special light pipes (tube lighting).
Text: Natasa Lianopoulou
