Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1538080
out for us. We asked, "What is important to the feeling of this space?" Public spaces like this usually have visual lines meant to give directional flow. In the Intercontinental Airport, the flow is from the TSA to the gates down the hallway. There is a diagonal line in the design of the terrazzo floor and that is mirrored by the skylight above. I love how this line breaks the feeling of the space being a box. The businesses in the terminal were also slightly angled, which helped break up the boxiness of the space. After lunch, Ayaka and I started a furious sprint, measuring and photographing every inch of the space we knew we needed before catching our returning flight home that evening. We spent the following weeks modeling the space, and figuring out how to bring this airport to life. One of the big challenges was designing it to fit between two connecting soundstages, with the planes on a third soundstage. The Houston airport in real life is a vast space with many long stretches of corridors with their service entrances and kiosks. To replicate the gate area, our team sourced the last remaining carpet in North America that matched the location. The advertisements we recreated for the airport were also very considered. The ad for the Orthopedic Center was made exact by a winding search for the stock image used in the original. We were also able to use some of the odd kiosks that dotted the hallways of the airport. Opticwash, a glasses cleaning machine that had many dispensers in the location, was sourced as product placement, along with a Mamava lactation pod, and banks of massage chairs. These were used by crew members during the shoot. Many times, we would come from lunch to see a line of crew getting their glasses cleaned or relaxing in the massage chairs. I loved seeing that. The goal is really to make everything on our sets functional whenever possible. If we can source working versions for props or set decoration, we always choose those options. We rarely, if ever, used fake props. Having the real objects creates an opportunity that if someone on camera wants to interact with it, they can. Details like that ground the space and add to the realism. C D F E G