# Airport seating design

By [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com) · 2025-02-11

cts, airport, travel, bench-seating, seating-design, design, space-planning, japan

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![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/eeaf2b566097fee8f8e76439b2e20244.jpg)

I like this bench seating at New Chitose Airport. All of the seating faces the glass/tarmac, which is where people want to be looking. Each bench has 3 seats — a pair and a single, separated by a flat lay down area. It seems to work well because there’s a surface to put your stuff down on and because, in these situations, many people don’t seem to want to sit beside a stranger. So even if you tried to squeeze in more seating and you replaced each hard surface with a 4th one, I’m sure there would be a lot of wasted space as a result of people using their bags as stranger blockers. I don’t know for sure that this configuration seats more people per square meter, but it certainly feels more comfortable. And given that this is Japan, there’s a good chance that someone gave careful thought to this space plan.

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*Originally published on [Brandon Donnelly](https://brandondonnelly.com/airport-seating-design)*