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At the top of the Update this week: British Airways opens new Miami, Dubai lounges, as first steps towards new global lounge concept
Designing an airline-branded outstation lounge is always tricky: among considerations like space, demand and partnerships, do you emphasise the airline’s identity, lean towards local flavour, or a mix of both? British Airways, working with Gensler, has two new lounges in Miami and Dubai — some first snaps of which leaked out as the lounges opened last week — and the answer seems to be the third option, with a sort of highly saturated Roaring Twenties aesthetic.
I’ll admit to being in several minds about the design of these two lounges, which are the first in BA’s new global lounge design series — on which note, spot the “A British Original” tagline on their YouTube video below.
On the plus side, the aesthetic feels glamorous, fun, and snazzy. They’re very Instagrammable, which is bang on brand for both Dubai and Miami.
On the minus side, the aesthetic is a lot. The red-and-white and blue-and-white bathrooms are eyewatering, with their red/blue marble-effect sinks and red/blue striped tiles and red/blue striped walls and red/blue striped under-sink vanity space.
You know that old adage from Coco Chanel about removing one accessory before leaving the house? That feels like it might have been good advice for the many, many colours, textures and elements of this lounge.
The aesthetic doesn’t really feel like anything new either. I first summed it up as if BA fed the Cathay-Ilse Crawford and Etihad Design Consortium lounge brand elements from the mid-2010s into an AI image generator, and on reflection I’d include adding some instructions to turn the colour saturation about three notches past the “Wes Anderson” setting, and to incorporate the airline’s union flag brand colours as much as possible.
Considering these spaces in the context of the tangerine-designed forthcoming first class suites on BA’s A380 refit, that visible colour saturation is one of the most striking differences.
