Alitalia Airport Areas & VIP Lounge

View of the Alitalia VIP lounge area at the Torino Airport.

Project Details

• Project Name: Alitalia Airport Areas & VIP Lounge
• Client: Alitalia
• Project Type: Design of brand identity and Interior Architecture
• Principal Designer: Massimo Iosa Ghini
• Design Team: Marco Colonnelli, Paola De Franceschi
• Year of commencement of project: 2006
• Year of completion of project: 2006
• Location of site: Torino Airport, Torino, Italy
• Bathroom tiles: Ceramiche Del Conca
• Sanitary ware: Hatria
• Lighting: Zumtobel, Spot-lights designed by Iosa Ghini
• Boiserie: Listone Giordano, designed by Iosa Ghini
• Furniture: Poltrona Frau, Stool Alo designed by Iosa Ghini
• Curtains: Modular

View of the check-in counters at the airport.

The Building

The project involves the redesign of Italian airline Alitalia's counters and workspaces at leading airports across the globe, keeping in tune with the airline's revised brand identity. The project has to date concentrated on the departure gates, ticket areas, check-in desks and fast-track routes.

Alitalia Airport Areas & VIP Lounge - Layout Plan [opens in a pop-up window - 134kb image]

View of the entry to the VIP lounge.

The design capitalises on green as the predominant colour in its palette; green being the company's trademark colour. In the revised brand identity, this colour becomes deeper, warmer and more elegant, confirming the carrier's "Italian Style" and giving its image a greater depth.

The space is crafted so as to reflect the excellence of Italian design.

The material palette however is inventive and varied and utilizes frosted glass and laminated wood which are set against upholstered furniture designed and crafted to reflect the excellence of Italian design. Brushed steel and mass-coloured plastic are also extensively used to create an ingenious corporate ambiance.

While the furniture and elements are set in rather subtle shades, lively coloured panels and playful lighting enthuse life into the space.

A delightful play of materials coupled with a controlled colour palette lends the spaces their distinctive brand identity.

Travellers are welcomed at the reception desk set in front of green-stained oak boiserie. To create the check-in and ticket desks, the designer employs a single shaped counter with a brushed steel base and fronts realised in backlit etched glass. The counter surface is set in white plastic.

View of the logistics area at the airport.

Frosted glass and steel are extensively used to give the departure gates and ticket desks their unique identity in the airport. Mass-coloured plastic has been employed for restyling the check-in islands, with a system of slats and filtered coloured lighting to customise the fast-track area. Undulating islands, curved tubular metal and sectional metal columns come together to form the stylistic hallmark of the self-check-in area.

View of the bathrooms which are set in a varied yet equally stylized palette.

The logistic area is now identified by counters with undulating ribbon-like movements, set in soft hues of green and accentuated by specially designed lighting and fluorescent elements. There is also an office area to accommodate multimedia stations on an oak counter, and a meeting area with customised Alitalia tables and chairs.

Credits

• Text: Courtesy of the architect
• Photographs: Courtesy of the architect
• Compiled and edited by Varun M. Ajani