Brandimage - Desgrippes & Laga Gives Life to the SkyTeam Lounge

This lounge will welcome travelers of the airline alliance in London-Heathrow’s airport starting June 4, 2009.

Spaning two floors and an impressive 1,600 m2, the SkyTeam lounge is the first communal room for the 13 airline companies AIR FRANCE-KLM, Delta, Korean Air, Alitalia, Continental Airlines, China Southern, CSA, Aeroflot, Aeromexico, Air Europa, Kenya Airways and Copa Airlines at Heathrow Airport. This is the first time that an airline alliance has gone beyond offering a simple area for its clients by offering a space with a genuine brand personality. The SkyTeam brand identity, created by Brandimage – Desgrippes & Laga in 2000 and inspired by a ribbon, is the connecting thread which accompanies SkyTeam’s passengers throughout their stay in this lounge. Brandimage commissioned the famous botanist, Patrick Blanc, to create interior gardens symbolizing a sensé of strength and flexibility like SkyTeam’s signature ribbon. A dozen vertical “jungles” coil through the two floors of the lounge; transcending the urban space by challenging gravity itself with a unique cultivation method of growing plants without soil. These vegetal ribbons act as an airy parenthesis, a respiration which breaks the ambience of closed and artificial spaces often found in airports, providing an organic calming feel. This SkyTeam lounge stands out from typical airport waiting areas with a keen sense of aesthetics and well-being. The lighting and colors play an essential role in the sensation of relaxation that SkyTeam offers their clients during their stay in the lounge. In harmony with the materials, they intervene to give rhythm to the space. Indirect, orange-tinted lighting accompanies the curves of the ceilings and discretely underlines the animated areas, while the colored whites calm the restful areas. Uniquely designed to be cozy, quiet and personal, guests can enjoy a 130 square meter spa and alcoves which extend toward the more vibrant zones dedicated to sharing and conviviality such as eating areas, reading rooms and playful zones for children. In order to fully express the brand personality of SkyTeam, Brandimage also imagined new uniforms for the personnel and the grand opening of the lounge. Alain Doré, Executive Creative Director of Brandimage - Desgrippes & Laga: An Air France client for example, used to a certain standard of quality, might be disappointed by a stopover which offers no waiting lounge of a corresponding level. The SkyTeam lounge has been conceived to respond to this demand. It’s a genuine decision, which fills its role of relay and representation of the companies at the center of their common structure. It’s degree of aesthetics and sophistication enhances all the passengers of the alliance. Here, it is no longer a question of competition between the airline companies, because here what is best is the passenger. The SkyTeam lounge, a multicultural jewel-case, services all SkyTeam’s member companies to bring serenity to their stay in London-Heathrow. It also confirms Brandimage’s extensive experience in airport lounge design, since its long-term working relationship with Air France for which Brandimage already designed a series of lounges, the latest being Tokyo, Johannesburg and the new First Class lounge in Paris Charles-de-Gaulle. Press contact : Annette Klek
aklek@brand-image.com
Tél : +33 1 4418 4515