Lounging: BoConcept

When it comes to the shaping of public spaces, an airport lounge provides glorious scope for the flexing of design muscles. When a space serves a broad spectrum of tastes and types, what guides the aesthetic? When hundreds of people tread its floors daily, what materials will withstand the wear and tear? And what furnishing and effects does the space require in the first place? Are people using it to fuel up on food before a flight, or as a temporary office? Are they making a library of the space or a crêche; are they catching 40 winks or drinking towards an airborne stupor?

Early last year, Danish design house BoConcept found themselves seeking answers to these questions when they were tasked to fit out Hamburg Airport’s VIP lounge. ‘The lounge at Hamburg airport has always been considered a best kept secret and the airport wanted to change this with new looks and new services,’ says Christian Hiller, BoConcept’s head of Contract. ‘Everyone can use it by paying an entry fee and so it was very much about pushing the potential of the only universally available (not airline-related) lounge.’ By maximising seating, and polishing up the offering and environmental appeal, profits could be expected to rise.

BoConcept – which has 65 years of experience in making modern furniture with a Scandinavian flavour alongside a fresh-eyed contract division led by Hiller – was chosen for its proven ability to install quickly and efficiently the comfort and style of a home environment in any space, while ensuring quiet but effective functionality. It wasn’t the first airport lounge design BoConcept has tackled recently. In the summer of 2019, it helped furnish Denmark’s Billund airport. ‘The brief was “Danish design icons,”’ says Hiller. ‘The lounge was to reflect the nation’s pride in its trail-blazing designs of the 50s and 60s. So we were honoured to see our “young” design in between all those masterpieces from the likes of Panton. But we were one of three players involved in creating this new playground; the biggest challenge was to align material and surfaces to make it look like one unified design.’

The Billund project did, however, give BoConcept’s contract team valuable practice in fulfilling the furnishing needs of a forward-looking airport lounge, and when it came to the German commission, the Hamburg-based contract team, led by Ole Valsgaard, took on the entire project – from planning, to interior design, to production, delivery and installation of the pieces. Their clear brief was to develop distinct areas fulfilling all the possible functions passengers might wish from a lounge. They were to do it with an eye to the effective use of daylight, an ear to good acoustics and a feel for instilling calm into the atmosphere – all while meeting the strictest material standards and certifications, including a high level of fire resistance.

The team achieved a living room-like feeling using warm earthy tones and a material mix of leather, metal and fabric. Ogi chairs with swivel function were installed under over-sized lampshades designed to provide acoustic privacy for quiet moments and meetings. Toriano bar tables teamed with the Adelaide bar stool provide social space, the Lucca armchair paired with the Dublin footstool and the Ottawa lounge table offer a zen zone, and the Torino table and Vienna chair make a good work station. In order to subdivide the 500sqm VIP lounge into different areas, partition walls and statement lights were placed as acoustic and optical room dividers, which give guests privacy and make the wait for a plane comfortable.

The results have hit the mark: ‘BoConcept has created, a completely new atmosphere,’ says Faik Bozdogan, the Daily Lounge Manager, Hamburg Airport. ‘Our lounge used to be just normal. Now we have areas where our guests can choose how they want to enjoy their stay.’ The challenge to Bozdogan now is to get ensconced passengers to their flights on time.

© Architonic