We talk to Ong Sim Lian, who heads Changi Airport’s design management team about the carpets at the airport and how this "quiet" element plays a role in the uniquely Changi Experience.
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Watch more: https://www.asiaone.com/video
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00:00What is the design philosophy behind your dress today?
00:02I had the impression that you wanted something a bit fun.
00:11Hi Sim Lian, thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me today.
00:16That's correct. What does that mean?
00:18Basically, I head the design management team that comprises of architects and
00:22architectural trained personnel and one art custodian.
00:26So I want to talk about something that maybe not everybody pays attention to,
00:31which is the carpets at Changi Airport.
00:34Basically, at Changi Airport, our philosophy is to create a stress-free experience for our
00:40passengers, what we call the Changi Experience. And carpets are actually one of the components
00:46to help us achieve this ambition. We curate our carpet designs on both the functional
00:52and the aesthetic front. So you may ask functionally, why do you need to use carpets
00:57on the floor? There are so many flooring materials that are available like natural marble,
01:01natural granite, laminated floors, ceramic tiles. But you notice all these alternative
01:07flooring materials that I mentioned are very hard surfaces. Whereas carpet is plush, it's soft,
01:13it gives you the homey feel, but more importantly, it has the sound absorption qualities.
01:18So in that sense, it helps to absorb the noise that comes from heavy footfall,
01:24trolleys and luggages rolling over the floor. And the quieter the environment is,
01:29the more relaxing you would feel. And that ties in with our philosophy of providing a
01:34stress-free environment to our passengers. On the other front, on the aesthetic front,
01:40you may notice each terminal has its own unique carpet design.
01:45I've never noticed, but this is very interesting. So now you can go and check. So each carpet design
01:49for each terminal is unique to the terminal's theme. So for example, if you go through the
01:55departure immigration into the transit hall for Terminal 1, you will see this terracotta coloured,
02:02contoured looking carpet that leads you into the piazza and towards the boutiques behind.
02:08For Terminal 2, you see abstractions of landform and water bodies. And Terminal 3 is a very
02:14floral theme to tie in with the crystal garden that we have designed over there.
02:18So what is the theme that you see across this while everyone is different?
02:24It's nature. Oh, thanks. That's what I was going to say. So we always take inspiration from nature
02:28and nature actually complements very well with Changi's DNA of having a lot of horticultural
02:34displays. And the colours, you know, we have warm early tones, we have soothing blues.
02:39All this is to give the passengers a very stress-free, relaxing environment.
02:44So tell me about these carpets, right? Walk me through from the inception of the idea all the
02:49way to putting them on the floor at Changi Airport. At the beginning, we would look at high-level
02:53vision. What do we want for the entire space? And that brings us to create a design brief. And the
03:00carpet is part of the design brief. With this design brief, we then start working with our
03:03designers. We collaborate with them so that we make sure that our design vision is achieved.
03:08So when you talk about a design brief, can you give me an example of what you might tell
03:12these different architectural specialists, these designers? So maybe an example, T2 Expansion,
03:18which we recently completed. We started with a design brief to say we wanted to have a space
03:23that is like a tropical resort feel. We wanted the idea of airport operations in a garden, right? So
03:29that's why you notice at T2 Expansion and Departure Hall check-in, there are carpets around where you
03:34check in because it's like you're checking in in the garden. And then the carpet is designed
03:39to support this concept or this vision that we are looking at. It is made of abstractions of
03:46water and landform. So you can see like brown contours that look like landform and then the
03:51bluish teals that represent water. The colours that we choose, the design, the graphics, everything
03:57supports the basic idea of what we want to achieve for the entire space. And are there any changes or
04:03innovations planned for the designs of the carpets? We will continue to look for inspiration in all
04:08forms of nature. But not only that, we also look for inspirations through different building
04:13typologies. We're not limited to just airports or transportation hubs, but we also look for
04:20inspiration from hotels, restaurants. I think inspiration is everywhere and we will continue
04:25to strive to look for more ideas going forward. Wow, that's incredible. Thank you so much for
04:29your time today, Simlan. Thank you for having me. It's been so instructive talking to you.
04:33I spilled some coffee on it. I'm so sorry. I'm sure our heavy duty machines have cleaned it off.