Strata Lounge, Auckland Airport Domestic Terminal

Brief
Provide Auckland Airport travellers with an elevated, memorable customer experience via a reimagined domestic lounge that prioritises comfort and relaxation.

Integrated design takes off at Auckland Airport
As part of their long-term expansion and integration plans, Auckland Airport decided to add a Strata Lounge to their domestic terminal — a sister of sorts to the international terminal’s Strata.

We worked with the airport to create a reimagined domestic lounge that combines clever customer-facing and back-of-house design choices aimed at cost efficiency, with bespoke graphic wall art that emphasises Strata’s premium brand and reflects the particular beauty of the airport’s surroundings: New Zealand’s Manukau Heads.

First, we used prefabrication to minimise programme and on-site time expenditure (limiting the number of times the design team needed to pass through security), while still enabling Auckland Airport to deliver the best possible customer experience.

The client took advantage of our integrated design service, working with our interior designer to create a colour palette blending earth and jewel tones (warm browns and oranges, deep blues, and greens) with bright whites and softer complementary pastels, mimicking nature and fostering an inviting in-lounge ambience. An emphasis on depth and texture in the interior fitout offers further nuances designed to relax the traveller.

Throughout the Strata design process, we used virtual reality (VR) to immerse the client and their stakeholders in the space before the actual build — reassuring them about the specifics of space, colour, and texture and allowing them to fully experience and tailor their customer journey.