Valby, Denmark

Danish designer Marcus Pedersen, in cooperation with Materna Information & Communication and Danish architects Rasmus Fasting, Julie Thorsø Hansen and Sara Clement, have developed state-of-the-art, high-tech airport solutions for safe and streamline passenger handling.

Since 2011, Marcus Pedersen ApS has helped airports worldwide improve user experiences, efficiency, and flow. His design firm offers solutions from a vast product range (mobile workstations, self-service, security, and furniture) and design consultancy services.

With its head office located directly in the passenger terminal at Aalborg Airport, airport product design firm Marcus Pedersen Airport Interior Solutions stays close to the travelling public, airlines, personnel and service providers to collect intelligence, inspiration and honest feedback for all its products.

The number of annual passenger journeys is set to hit the 7 billion mark by 2035.

Airlines, airports and the air transport supplier community are keenly aware of the role technology will play in improving the flow of people through crowded terminals, and creating a positive travel experience.

“Creating an ergonomically correct unit was incredibly important to us,” states Pedersen.

“When we started sketching the product, we placed it on the counter where you would normally put a retrofit bag drop.”

“It was too low to be ergonomically correct for average users.”

“So, we tried taking it up higher, but then it was too high for small or seated persons, and (on days when the desk was being used for manned assistance) it was blocking the airline employee who sat there.”

“We think that all passengers should be treated as equals, and the airports and airlines we’ve spoken to feel the same way,” Pedersen continues.

“When we ask someone to use a different area and special equipment, the message we send is not a positive one.”

And Pedersen is delivering his new contemporary furnishings to some of the high-level airports as Aalborg Airport, Copenhagen Airport, Frankfurt Airport, Toronto Airport, Hamburg Airport, and Bengaluru International Airport.

Some of the advanced products and furnishings designed by Pedersen include the following:

Designed in 2012 by architects Rasmus Fasting and Julie Thorsø Hansen, the series, MP01 is a timeless and elegant solution for airports that wish to express modernity and comfort.

The MP01 series emanated from a vision of creating a minimalistic design using a minimum number of components.

The surfaces, made from pure aluminium, and the chaste design of the seats appear as calm and integrated elements in the room.

The slender furniture does not take up unnecessary physical or visual space. All joints and conduits are embedded and hidden in the furniture, eliminating all functional and visual distractions.

With functionality and a visually appealing appearance in mind, the MP01 furniture series is designed as a modular system consisting of chairs, tables, and benches that can facilitate a number of practical and visually sophisticated furniture arrangements.

Based on customer needs and wishes, MP01 was initially designed for Aalborg Airport with attentiveness to the users’ needs in transit situations, as well as the airport building’s
architectural terms. The airport terminals’ beautiful Nordic appearance and the simple lines on the furniture blend harmoniously into a unified architectonic experience.

Likewise, the MP01 Lounge Chair combines a minimalistic and lightweight expression with a relaxed and reclined seating comfort with a unique signature in the chair’s profile. The profile of the seat matches MP01 Gate Seating, which ensures a consistent style throughout the airport, while the gently curved, wooden frame gives the chair its own, unique signature.

In 2014 with designer Sara Clement, Pedersen introduced Tag.Go to make the bag drop process
even easier and faster for these passengers.

The kiosk is more simple to use than traditional check-in kiosks; the passenger simply scans his
boarding pass and print the bag tag(s).

The hardware solution (scanners and printers) can be customized to fit the airport’s needs.
In 2015, Pedersen’s team introduced the Symfoni Beat Seating—a notable, dynamic, and playful
setups to create harmonious and characteristic environments.

The series consists of three different shells mounted on a shared base, with the optional addition of a table.

The curved shell is comfortable, and it is possible to integrate power outlets for passengers to charge their laptop or smartphone while waiting in the airport.

The addition of armrests is also possible.

Symfoni Beat Seating can be combined in setups that can be adapted to create the desired environment.

In either straight lines that uses the available space efficiently yet retains a dynamic expression, or in groups to create a smaller, more intimate space.

The company’s latest offering, Air.Go On, is the first height-adjustable, self-service bag drop solution to enter the market, and is a quick retrofit to any existing airport counter.

The elegant and user-friendly design of Tag.Co matches the Air.Go On bag drop series; and when installed together, they ensure a consistent design line throughout the check-in area.

It is possible to integrate storage space for bag tag rolls and a waste bin for e.g. paper from bag tags.

Developed with designer Sara Clement in 2017, Air.Go On is a retrofit self-service bag drop
solution for airports that can be mounted on an existing counter.

The bag drop unit is height adjustable, which makes it accessible and comfortable to use for
passengers of all heights, including wheelchair users.

By using Air.Go On, the airport is able to treat all passengers equally, and no passengers have to
use special equipment.

Inclusivity aside, the height-adjustability of Air.Go On serves a second important purpose: creating a visible difference between “on” and “off” mode.

When a unit is not in use the display-screen goes dark, or can display luggage weight, and reverts to the lowest position (see diagram below, measurements are in millimeters).

When it’s active, the display rises up – almost becoming a substitute for the person at the counter.

The latest furniture collection called Connect seating was designed with Sara Clement in 2019 and was chosen for installation by Copenhagen Airport because of its modularity, contemporary aesthetics, and sustainable approach to design and functionality.

Connect seating is flexible, modular airport furniture that can be combined in different ways, thereby covering the needs of different passenger groups.

CPH has a tradition of choosing time-specific furniture for the different architecture throughout the airport, and the firm is very proud that their Connect design was selected to represent today in an airport where the Danish design tradition plays a very important role and is present everywhere.

“With our Danish partner, Marcus Pedersen, we have found an attractive solution,” says Georg Oschmann, Executive Vice President Mobility at Materna.

“And with numerous self-service projects at over 70 airports worldwide behind us, we have a great deal of experience in the implementation of self-service solutions for passenger handling.”

Designer: Marcus Pedersen ApS
Collaborting Architccts: Rasmus Fasting, Julie Thorsø Hansen and Sara Clement
Manufacturers: Marcus Pedersen Airport Interior Solutions and Materna Information & Communications SE