An examination of Airport Liminality : Viewing transitional spaces through a traveller’s perspectives
Overview: This project explored the emotional and psychological impact of airports as "liminal" spaces (Gennep) and "non-places" (Augé). Through observations, interviews, and analysis, we examined how airports shape travellers' identity, emotions, and behaviour, sharing our findings in two zines.
Designers: Hannah Yuan, Nicole Chen, Natalie Huynh
Time Frame: 12 weeks
Tools: Canva
ALTER EGOS BENEATH THE SKIES
For our first zine, we explored alter-egos through interviews. One traveller felt like a smuggler at customs, another became reflective after security, while a third found comfort in ritual actions like getting coffee. These perspectives highlight how airports evoke complex emotions.
THE SYSTEMATIC SPACE
For our second zine, we explored the airport’s physical space and its systematic routines. We noticed how signage can create confusing flows and how passengers often rearrange their luggage, challenging the strict rules of the space. To wrap up, we identified shared patterns in those waiting with items like flowers and balloons, prompting the question: what would you bring when picking someone up at the airport?
Behind the Zines… The Deep Dive into Research That Powered Our Creative Journey!
A relevant quote from Arnold van Gennep’s The Rites of Passage (1909)
"Transition is a movement between two fixed points, a journey through an ambiguous state, neither here nor there."
These frameworks shaped our research questions on how airport environments influence personal experiences. We explored how liminality impacts spatial design and how non-places shape travellers’ identity and emotions. Ultimately, we aimed to understand the complex ways airport spaces affect travellers as unique “experiencers.”
Research Process
Unpacking Emotions in Transit: Insights from Sydney Airport Travellers
To explore travellers' emotional experiences at Sydney International Airport, we conducted interviews and field observations. Interviews revealed how backgrounds and identities influence perceptions, while observations recorded behaviours during arrivals and departures, highlighting the airport's role as a transitional space.
Research Process - Field work: Design Probes
Beyond visiting the airport, we designed a takeaway experience for travelers to carry on their journey.
To understand how personal backgrounds shape perceptions of airports as transitional spaces, we employed design probes that encouraged reflection. Participants created digital scrapbooks, collected items, and wrote letters to their future selves, supported by an emotion-mapping tool. This approach yielded participant photo collages, which we connected with their letters, offering insights into their emotional states at the airport.
Design probes inspired by time capsules to explore participants' experiences.
Total of four overseas participants (families and friends)
Focused on four journey stages: pre-departure, airport experience, and arrival.
Thematic Analysis
More than 100 Interpretations. From Codes to sub themes to themes.
Given the multifaceted nature of the data we collected, we used thematic analysis to analyse the data to provide us with the highest potential to uncover in-depth insights that identify niches of user behaviour like motivations, perspectives, and emotions.
Through thematic analysis, we derived our findings from 13 categories, which led to the identification of four key themes. We grouped our raw data into these categories for clearer insights.
Insight 1
Airports are catalysts for meaningful reflections and personal introspections
01 Initial Contemplation – Travellers reflect on their trip’s purpose, make plans, and consider what they hope to experience or achieve.
02 Reconnecting and Remembering – A time to reunite with loved ones, revisit familiar places, and share memories, deepening emotional connections.
03 Embracing the Present – Fully immersing in the journey, enjoying the surroundings, and appreciating meaningful moments.
04 Embracing New Responsibilities – As the trip ends, travelers shift focus to upcoming tasks, carrying reflections and aspirations into their return to routine.
Insight 2
The airport's physical design affects the diversity of spatial experiences
Departure vs. Arrival
Systematic Processes – Both follow structured procedures, but arrivals feel more restrictive with fewer amenities.
Shared Behaviours – Homogenised activities and fatigue are more pronounced in arrivals.
Personal Routines – Routines for comfort exist in both, but arrivals trigger stronger frustration and tension.
Environmental Influence – Both stages have restrictive design elements, but arrivals cause more discomfort and unfamiliarity.
Insight 3
The journey through an airport evokes emotional ambiguity
For example in the departures chart, anxiety peaks at check-in, the purple dimension. But that is not the only emotion that occurs at that time as there are also records of frustration and excitement. This highlights how ambiguous emotions are at airports.
During touchdown, not only do we observe “excitement” but also “sadness”
“It’s a mix of excitement and a bit of anxiety”
Emotions at the airport are not uniform, but rather intensely varied and ambiguous.
The arrivals chart shows similar emotional ambiguity at touchdown (in light blue), where participants felt both excitement and sadness, with one noting that their excitement was “short-lived.” Notably in this chart, emotions are more consistent in arrivals than in departures—an intriguing insight that could inform future research on emotional journeys between contrasting areas of the airport.
“It’s a mix of excitement and a bit of anxiety”
“Definitely excited and happy that [they’re] off the plane, but it is short-lived”
In comparison to departures, emotions seem to be more consistent during arrivals
Limitations & Future Implications
Acknowledging Research Boundaries and Shaping Future Airport Design Studies
While our research ensured quality, it was limited by a small, familiar group of participants at Sydney Airport, potentially introducing bias. This affects the generalizability of our findings. Future research could focus on specific demographics at various airports, improving reliability and informing airport design as both transitional and communal spaces.
