Friday, October 20, 2006

Staff Canteen at Changi Airport Terminal 2










Burger King, Coffee Bean, Starbucks, MacDonald’s, T2 Staff Canteen- what do these places have in common? Students of course! Besides chilling out with friends, there is also the “Mugging” Season. “Mugging” Season (September-December) is defined as the critical time period before the O and A levels. Signs that the season has arrived are sightings of teenagers in uniform glued to their seats from day to night, noses stuck in notes/calculations, often with a cup of drink beside them which they sip throughout the whole day. I was one of them. Take a look at my successors!
Naturally, serious “muggers”, like me, will settle for a most conducive space. You do not need to be an architect to know a good space from a bad one. The back of the staff canteen in Changi Airport T2 is secluded, quiet, cooling, and the lighting is perfect for lingering at the spot for long hours. Though the area is just beside a wall of glass, a combination of appropriate horizontal shading device, plant shading, protective film, natural with artificial lighting and suitable air-conditioning created a space that allows the people in it to feel pleasantly comfortable. Let us see what exactly is going on outside.
There are no fanciful designs, no historical layerings, nothing special, just an incidental (or not?) space created with all the right conditions. Even if one was not studying (which by the way has already been banned), one can just sit there alone, and contemplate nothing and everything at the same time away.
Christina Seet Hee Ling

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