As airport specialists we know the best way to seamlessly blend Retail into the fabric of the airport, not only creating a cohesive experience for the passenger and stronger revenue streams for the airport but also enhancing the Sense of Place, thus helping the airport to develop its own unique personality by delivering engaging, effective and memorable encounters for the customer.

In supporting the radical reconfiguration of RIOgaleāo – Tom Jobim International Airport, we took on a dual-specialist role. Working firstly as the airport consortium’s architect partner on commercial planning, creating the commercial master plan solution for the airport’s terminals, and then creating unique designs for each of the 3 main stores.

RIOgaleāo is one of the most complex, challenging and ultimately exciting architectural projects we have ever worked on. Firstly, the consortium’s deadline for completion was penalty-fixed ahead of the Olympics in 2016. Secondly, the buildings themselves came with the multiple challenges of their heavy concrete construction, dominant low beams and a considerable amount of redundant and inaccessible space across multiple levels. This set the requirement for us to work with the buildings and to eke out the best reconfiguration of space to create a world-class airport for the anticipated rise in passenger traffic, as well as bringing the infrastructure up to today’s standards.