Context sensitive interior design for complex public buildings: a case study based on Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport Terminal One

This research addresses issues of place and space legibility in complex public interiors through the application of select methods and principles from urban design. The investigation is grounded in the specific problem context of the interior of an international air terminal in Taiwan, an environment that incorporates spatial planning issues comparable to those of the wider city form. Air terminals are widely regarded as alienating environments, lacking identity. This research argues that complex public interiors like terminals would be more memorable and navigable if materially sensitive to their socio-cultural environment. In a context where interior design offers limited theoretical positions, this transdisciplinary project transposes urban design theories and approaches, including Kevin Lynch’s idea of place legibility and spatial markers, Roger Trancik’s concept of layered urban environments and other arguments for an integral urbanism into the interior design field. In support of these approaches it harnesses methods developed by Ed Ruscha in his photographic work on Los Angeles architecture and streetscapes to the analysis of socio-cultural context. Exemplifying the value of urban theories for the interior design problem space, the research develops and practically substantiates an approach to Context Sensitive Interior Design (CSID) where cultural resonance is a priority. In contrast to current engineering-oriented functional considerations for terminal design, CSID borrows insights from cultural studies to explore the complexity of forces acting on urban environments and cultures under the conditions of modernity and globalization. The designed component of the research complements the theoretical discussion, the design proposal for Chiang Kai-Shek Terminal 1 challenging the limitations of a recent design competition for the terminal while affirming that interior design scholarship will emerge from the nexus of theory and practice.