“How does Changi continue to be one of the best airports in the world?” is a common question posed to Changi Airport Group (CAG) by its visitors.

So when we built Jewel, we curated a space to tell this story. Changi Experience Studio (CES) is a first-of-its-kind digital experience centre, to showcase all things to do with aviation and the airport. The team behind the setup of CES shared that during the initial brainstorming sessions, they concluded that they wanted to curate a zone where the Changi story can be told to the public, in an attractive way which appealed to everyone.

With this key criteria in mind, the team went forth and explored different possibilities to tell the Changi narrative in a fun and engaging way, to share behind-the-scenes stories. The end product – over 20 touchpoints, showcasing various aspects of the Changi Experience. Located on Level 4 of Jewel, CES tells the stories of aviation history and development, as well as operational fun facts about Changi Airport behind-the-scenes, through interactive exhibits, games and shows. Throughout the experience, the important values of innovation, resilience and teamwork have also been integrated into the content and messages. 

Changi Journeys learnt the thinking behind the design of some of the touchpoints in CES.

1.        Amazing Runway

One of the signature pieces at CES, the team wanted to tell the story of the first innovative project organised by CAG, just months after corporatisation. Back in 2009, the race between a Porsche and an airplane not only marked the corporatisation of Changi Airport, it was also a message sent by the CEO to challenge staff to rethink what an airport can be, kickstarting a full decade of innovation for CAG.

Since this touchpoint is about a race, the team thought that it would be exciting to create a game where visitors can adopt the persona of either the Porsche driver or airplane pilot, and race against one another on stationery bikes.

2. Unsung Heroes of Changi

Most passengers breezing through Changi may not be fully aware that besides the frontline staff who had served them in the terminals, there is also a team of staff hard at work behind the scenes, to ensure that passenger journeys remain smooth all the way.

To give visitors an understanding of the different types of jobs at the airport, as well as a glimpse of the lesser seen environments that they work in, the team introduced a green screen at this touchpoint, to allow visitors to take photos with these behind-the-scenes areas as a backdrop. This gives visitors the opportunity to take photos in “highly restricted” areas, which is where these work environments are located, such as on the runway and in the control tower.

One of the backdrops at this touchpoint, showing the view of Changi’s runway.

3. Garden of Harmony

In the airport community which is 50,000-strong, CAG’s role is similar to the “conductor” in a large “orchestra”, to ensure that the whole community work together as OneChangi, united in spirit, culture and service excellence, to maintain Changi as the best airport in the world.

To illustrate the team effort required by the airport community, this touchpoint is designed for visitors to create music by flapping their CES travel guide. Having to work together with other visitors to create the final song, this touchpoint demonstrates how the airport community needs to work closely together as a single team. The touchpoint is also designed to pay tribute to our airport partners, who have been with CAG every step along the way of Changi’s development.

Besides the three activities described above, there are many more touchpoints waiting to be discovered and enjoyed at CES. For more information on CES, visit the website here.