Review--In the Place of the Public

Airport is a unique place which is isolated from the world we live in everyday. Once you enter an airport, you may begin to feel helpless because your activities are more or less under the control of others. Terminal and airplane is much like a prison in which the travellers lose the right of doing some activities.
Some terminals and airlines are trying to reduce the stress of travel and create a better experience for passengers. In the air, as on the ground, airlines are taking steps to reduce the stress of travel. Some airlines begin to provide previously unheard of services such as in-flight massages, beauty treatments and stand-up bar onboard. These are all successful attempts to create a unique experience.
Vancouver terminal is one of the successful-designed airports in the world. Travellers' experience is designed to allow views of the local mountains while walking through various indigenous art installations. Upon arriving in Vancouver, Air Canada's 'Elite' and 'Super Elite class of travellers can take a shower, have their suit steamed, shirt ironed and shoes shone in preparation for the working day ahead.
The airport design is undergoing a significant change of focus. Architects and designers are looking for new ways to enhance the experience of air travel. Greater emphasis is being placed on quality of furnishing, interesting spaces, natural lighting and all-important retailing. The old-style airports which were airline-centred are being replaced by something more resembling a shopping mall. Many airports now look to parking, retail, commercial, hotels, meeting facilities and food and beverage uses for a large percent of their revenues. It suggests that travellers have altered their expectations of airports considerably.
Koolhaas considered the idea of airports replacing the city and becoming both hyper-global and hyper-local. They are global in the sense that they are increasingly filled with the same multi-national retailers and brands which are available everywhere, but also hyper-local in that they frequently display museum-like representations of local culture. Koolhaas described the contemporary airport as "like a drastic perfume demonstration, photomurals, vegetation, local costumes give a first concentrated blast of the local identity (sometimes it is also the last)".