Stress test
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A better back of house
How biophilic design could improve the workplace for baggage handlers
In Toy Story 2, Buzz Lightyear and his crew go on a mission to rescue Woody from the airport, navigating a crazy maze of conveyer belts and lifts within a vast, industrial cavern to reach the right suitcase.
It isn’t far from reality, says Architectus Associate Scott Jackman, who’s worked in Aviation for nearly two decades on everything from airline gates to retail spaces to subterranean services.
“Baggage handling spaces are difficult to move around, the air quality is compromised, and they’re generally cold in winter and hot in summer,” he points out.
Not surprisingly, staff turnover is high, and it’s difficult to attract new recruits. According to 2024 figures from Jobs and Skills Australia, there’s a shortage of baggage handlers and ground crew in every state except New South Wales.
Those challenges got Scott and the wider Aviation team thinking about how to bring nature’s benefits to baggage handling spaces in Australia’s airports.
“We’ve been asking ourselves: how do we design something that’s less like a factory floor and more lab-like, with cleaner, healthier conditions? Somewhere where workers feel more like a technician playing a vital role in the process,” Scott says.
“We want these spaces to be fit for humans, not just luggage.”
A naturally better space for health and productivity
Biophilic design – the practice of connecting people to nature in the built environment and communities – has been gaining ground for decades, as research on its benefits continues to grow.
The successful incorporation of biophilia can have a positive effect on physical and mental health as well as behavior, from lowering blood pressure to reducing stress to enhancing problem solving and concentration.
What would some of those design elements look like in the often dark, airless and difficult-to-navigate spaces we see back-of-house today?
Scott and our design teams are looking at how to incorporate features such as virtual windows or skylights. The most sophisticated options on the market can mimic circadian lighting intensity over the course of a day via programmed tonal adjustments in their panels.
Other potential design interventions include systems that release fresh, uplifting scents into the air – such as pine or eucalypt – to mimic a healthier, natural environment.
Greenery is also a possibility if we can overcome the lack of natural light by tapping into external walls, Scott points out.
A future-forward retrofit
Where would airports even start when it comes to this complex, technical design challenge? Scott says a retrofit is the likely answer, focusing on upgrading the commonly used pathways or ‘dwell zones’ in existing baggage handling areas.
Drawing on a combination of insights from architecture and interiors, clients could invest incrementally in some of these high-impact spaces – or they could completely rethink the way these areas look and operate, especially given opportunities to harness the latest advancements in automation.
We’re already seeing these new approaches in action globally in cities such as San Francisco and Toronto, says Scott, who has a range of baggage handling projects on the go, including at Melbourne and Brisbane airports.
Where to from here?
The time appears to be ripe for designing better back-of-house areas. For example, a 2023 survey found that around three-quarters of North American airports were intending to upgrade their baggage handling systems within five years.
In addition to potential benefits for health and job satisfaction, a better environment could also help reduce the rate of mishandled baggage, which has been rising since the early days of the pandemic – an issue that’s largely attributed to labour shortages.
As Scott point outs: “From a baggage handler’s point of view, if they see an employer is investing in these spaces – for physical and mental health – they’ll know their work is valued.”
