This multi-year project redeveloped the domestic terminal of Fukuoka Airport. While the overall project was proceeding based on the concept of creating a park within the airport, we handled the spatial design for each zone based on the environmental plan.

Just five minutes from Hakata Station, Fukuoka Airport is one of the few airports in the world to be located in a city center. We therefore set “connection” as the overall theme of the design concept and focused on how people walk around and the functional traffic flow. We aimed to create a space overflowing with humanity where travelers as well as city residents could gather. Beginning with the seamless connection of a 200-m space extending north to south from the airport to the commercial space, connectivity is created on each floor by connecting the floors vertically with vaulted ceilings and traffic lines. We used materials produced in Kyushu throughout the space as items connecting people arriving in Fukuoka with the local region. Soil from Kagoshima, containing powdered magma with the ability to regulate humidity and neutralize odors, is used in the walls, while woods from Kyushu including cedar, pine, and hinoki cypress are used in the furniture and ceilings. The rest space is filled with layers of wood in a design reminiscent of an undulating landscape. The space offers a high degree of freedom with the intention of inviting activity and creativity to take place.

I hope that this place brings happiness to the many people who visit the airport, from air travelers to ordinary visitors not taking an airplane, and allows them to spread their wings and fly.