Quito International Airport has completed a comprehensive remodeling of the departure and arrival halls, with the work undertaken by operator Corporación Quiport as part of its ongoing improvement plan.
The US$2.18m project was financed by Quiport and its shareholders, and the airport partnered with Canadian company Stantec and Ecuador-based Adriana Hoyos Design Studio, Octofast and InStudio on the project. The works began in December 2019 but were paused due to the Covid-19 situation.
The remodeling included the replacement of 5,250m2 of ceramic floor with Brazilian granite. Additionally, all the seating was replaced with furniture specially designed for the airport, with space for 148 passengers in total. The airport operator notes that a fundamental part of the design of the public departure hall was the relocation of the commercial stores to the sides of the area, improving the sense of spaciousness.
According to Adriana Hoyos, director of Adriana Hoyos Design Studio, a key challenge was to create a ‘wow effect’ in the renewed space, in which the passenger has a unique, comfortable and memorable experience with decorative elements that break the scheme of a typical commercial place. “We selected the materials based on their warmness and safety for passenger traffic, but without forgetting a great visual impact,” she said.
One of the main components of the remodeling was the creation of a sculptural element in the center of the public departures hall. It consists of a latticework of wooden pieces that open out in all directions from a central point.
The installation design was created by Stantec with Octofast in charge of planning, modeling and construction. Roberto Wolf, from Octofast, explained that the main challenge was the move from a conceptual design to a constructible design, for which tests were carried out with different types of materials.
