EXCLUSIVE FEATURE: How does Changi Airport’s revamped T2 redefine the airport experience?

Singapore’s Changi Airport describes its recently revamped Terminal 2 (T2) as a place “where nature meets modernity”. The terminal expansion spans three levels, including the arrival and departure halls, and Level 3, where new food and beverage options are available.

Basile Boiffils, managing director and principal architect at Boiffils Architectures, the interior design lead for the project, notes that the brief was relatively simple: “To expand the capacity, but while doing so, to completely refresh the terminal’s atmosphere.”

Work began in January 2020, just two months before Singapore closed its borders because of the Covid-19 pandemic, and was completed in November 2023. Terminal 2 has since been nominated for numerous awards and attracted the attention of some of the world’s leading architectural publications.

The facility’s reopening has restored fourterminal operations at Changi Airport, significantly boosting throughput, with the expansion adding 21,000m2 to T2 and increasing capacity by five million passengers per annum to 28mppa, taking Changi’s total capacity to 90mppa,

Remarkably, this is the first airport project that the Paris-based architectural studio has ever undertaken: “Our studio started to carve its place in the international market as an architecture and interior design workshop for prestigious retail brands, particularly in the fashion and cosmetics industries, before adding larger retail mall projects and hospitality projects,” Boiffils notes.

Following its work on several successful luxury shopping malls in the Asian market, the agency’s architectural and commercial approach piqued the interest of Changi’s leadership team, leading it to include the French firm in its tender for the renovation and expansion of Terminal 2.

“We finally won this international competition, which was completely unexpected on our part,” Boiffils admits. “We were the smallest firm by far in the five teams selected to participate, and we had absolutely no experience in airport design. Our main background was in retail – large shopping centers in Asia – and hospitality. But I believe that this background is what made us able to bring a different approach, more oriented toward creating a special experience for travelers rather than just focusing on managing passenger flow. With this approach came a very different architectural language and a different atmosphere.”

Travelers can now experience Singapore’s flora through two unique immersive installations.”
Basile Boiffils, Boiffils Architectures

Nature meets technology

Splashes of green vegetation via dedicated horticulture displays permeate the new building, transforming key terminal touchpoints. Meanwhile, ceiling designs, wall finishes and carpet patterns mimic natural landforms, further amplifying a sense of the organic.

“We wanted the architecture to be a source of emotions and a stimulant of senses through its connections with nature,” says Boiffils. “As lovers of nature and gardens, we drew those inspirations from vegetation, topography, geology, minerals, ponds, streams, currents, water reflections and much more to create spaces and forms that blur the boundaries between architecture and landscape.”

However, T2’s design also features a technological twist. Take the Wonderfall – a 14m-tall digital display comprising three large, flat segments (to provide an optimal view), nestled within a verdant vertical garden. This stunning statement piece dominates the departures hall, displaying high-resolution content that recreates the majesty and drama of a waterfall cascading over megalithic boulders, stopping passengers in their tracks to admire its beauty and take a photo.

Several times an hour, the tumultuous waters change direction on megaliths, creating a fascinating dance between the elements. Set to music composed by Jean- Michel Blais, the resulting choreography channels the raw energy of a torrent into moments of grandeur until gravity returns the water to its natural state.

There’s also a brand-new garden, dubbed Dreamscape, in the departure transit area. It features lush, vertical columns of green vegetation against a meticulously landscaped backdrop, brought alive by a ‘digital sky’ that changes its hues depending on the time of day.

“We have completely renovated the south garden of the transit area, providing a restful respite for layover passengers disoriented by intercontinental travel,” explains Boiffils. “To provide a sense of connection with the outdoors, where they are not permitted to go, we have created an LED ceiling that replicates external weather conditions in real time, from overcast skies to sunrises and sunsets.”

The garden is also filled with the tropical sounds of Singapore. Bird songs, insect and other local creature noises are generated in real time from a catalog of nearly 100 recordings, broadcast through an immersive 3D sound system. Boiffils enlisted the contribution of Patrick Blanc, an artist, botanist and inventor of the green wall, for the botanical sequences and plant selection.

“Travelers can now experience Singapore’s flora through two unique immersive installations, leveraging advances in technology that would not have existed a decade ago,” Boiffils says. “The entire project is a dialog between technology and nature, but with the technology largely concealed to highlight the natural elements.”

A sense of romance

Boiffils insists the design team’s goal went beyond just creating a few eye-popping attractions: “Before creating a wow factor, the most important part of our vision for this airport was to question the global airport architectural language, which often leads to generic results, with similar types of materials, lighting and signage,” he says.

“The existing T2 architecture was rooted in the traditional airport focus on business efficiency, rather than comfort and pleasurable user experiences,” he continues. “Our idea was to romanticize the airport experience, infusing pleasurable experiences into increasingly stressful travel scenarios through a series of visual, audio and interactive stimuli intended to soothe the mind, body and soul.”

Beyond its digital distractions, the instant ‘wow’ one feels upon entering the new terminal is more the result of a space that has been completely streamlined – a reflection of the design team’s determination to create a very clean, minimal and warm environment. According to Boiffils, this has been achieved through the careful choice and consistent application of a select palette of materials, while remaining mindful of the impact of more technical infrastructure.

“For example, in many recent airports the floors are very polished and reflective, and the lighting is made through a grid of powerful downlights that are often glaring and doubled [in their intensity] as they are reflected on the floor,” explains Boiffils. “Here we chose to use a satin finished floor, and to conceal the lighting in the ceiling in such way that it is almost invisible.”

As a result, sprinklers, security cameras, lighting and other technological paraphernalia that normally litter most airport interiors are almost unnoticeable. “Most of the elements that we created are partially or completely invisible, which was a conscious effort on our part to remove the impression of an airport as being a cold and engineered space,” he reveals.

Working with French lighting design consultant Ph.A Concepteur lumière & Design, Boiffils has paired T2’s near-invisible fixtures with semi-polished flooring to create a far more soothing and serene atmosphere than those usually experienced in traditional airports.

Early birds

The terminal’s previous tilt-tray sorter-based baggage handling system has been completely refurbished by Beumer Group, with the upgrade expected to extend the system’s lifespan by 15-20 years. Beumer has also installed a new, fully automated, 5,120m2 early baggage storage system with the capacity to store up to 2,400 bags. Currently, the new facility holds 700 to 800 bags at any time on an average day and 1,000 bags on busier days.

Changi reports that passengers are increasingly keen to drop their bags off early – often more than three hours before departure, with approximately six million bags checked in early across all its terminals in 2023, up from 3.8 million in 2022.

Human touch

Inspired by luxurious hotel complexes, Boiffils was also keen to create a more welcoming and personalized check-in experience, combing rich earth tones and custom-finished materials with high-tech elements instead of the usual cold and sterile colors of most landside areas.

Upon arrival in the departure level, bright, colorful carpeting evokes aerial views of land and sea, with colorful and textured lines representing the sedimentary layers of the earth. Vegetated columns extend from the ground floor, forming multiple atriums inspired by nature and its elements.

“Borrowing from contemporary hotel hospitality, we humanized the check-in process, making it quick and efficient,” continues Boiffils. “The open floor plan positions each of the automated check-in kiosks and baggage drop stations as uniquely shaped and positioned islands, rather than as traditionally linear counters.”

Boiffils says the Departure Hall’s check-in islands not only provide a refreshing alternative to the traditional “frontal” approach but they also ensure the hall remains as panoramic and open as possible, promoting smoother circulation.

“Travel in the 21st century is filled with stressful moments – from check-in to security lines and immigration – and we wanted to provide extensive transparency to enable views of the steps ahead as a way of reducing anxiety derived from the unknown and unfamiliarity with the airport.”

“Our idea was to romanticize the airport experience”
Basile Boiffils, Boiffils Architectures

Passengers landing at T2 are also extended the same courtesies: upon arrival in the immigration hall, travelers descend a set of escalators to a highly automated and streamlined immigration zone, where Boiffils and his team once again strove to conceal any technical and regulatory aspects.

“Travelers are surrounded by an environment of vegetated walls and colorful carpeting, with continuous, organic lines facilitating transitions and offering clear forward views of adjoining steps in the journey as part of a shared architectural language. Unobstructed views from the immigration zone through to the baggage carousels and ‘meet and greet’ area induce a calmer mindset, allowing travelers to get their bearings prior to moving forward.”

Automation investments

Beyond a more open design, the airport has also made substantial investments in new technology. With a central common-use fast and seamless travel (FAST) zone, the number of automated check-in kiosks and bag-drop machines has almost doubled to more than 100. The new self-service technology is available to passengers traveling with Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and All Nippon Airways.

The immigration halls have been expanded to support additional automated immigration lanes to enable more passengers to be served at once. Travelers whose fingerprints are registered with Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) simply scan their passport, boarding pass and fingerprint to authenticate their identity.