February 2003: Meetings with DreamWorks producers Michael Grillo and Steve Molen make it clear that Steven wants to fast track the film for a summer 2004 release, allowing us just enough time to build the main set, and barely enough time to design it.

The conceptual design goes very fast. There really are not many alternatives — the airport terminal needs to feel familiar and somewhat generic, have a scale that gives it realism and wear the materials synonymous with modern airport architecture — glass, polished stone, stainless steel, painted metal. We decide that using real granite for the floors will be economical despite its initial cost — the cheaper alternatives like paint will require constant maintenance. I tap into some of the common, even banal language of modern airport architecture, the reference to airplane forms and design the building as a curved section of a wing, which gives a wonderful opportunity to explore complex intersecting forms while staying true to the generic source.

February 2003: David Devlin comes into the art department to spend a week of initial work on the lighting design. A month later he and Janusz both spend time in the art department looking at the developing model and at the walls covered in reference material of architecture, finishes and lighting. Having David and Janusz’s input at the beginning of preparation is an unprecedented and vital opportunity to design the set around the possibilities of the lighting.

It is a major aspect of the design to create a set that will satisfy the lighting of a story that takes place over 11 months. We will need to portray every time of day through all seasons, as well as to use the huge amount of artificial lighting inherent in any airport. The set will be primarily top lit for daylight, which means a fully transparent ceiling, and all the attendant structure it demands. In effect, we are designing a gigantic light-box. We will also attempt to codify the film using the color temperature of the practical lighting to represent the different strata of the airport. From green florescent lighting for the service areas to warm and subtle down-lighting for the upper level first class lounge area, through a daylight-balanced combination of top lighting florescent and tungsten spots for all the retail areas.

March 2004: The offices get too small very fast, and we move the art department into the same offices at Universal that we had for The Cat in the Hat, where we will remain until it is possible to move the key designers to the construction site.

The ‘white’ model of the main concourse, built at 1/8th scale by Andrew Jones. Using a physical and previs model side-by-side allows for the most accurate portrayal of a set before it is built.

In the main terminal set, we are creating something closer to architecture than a film set, and I set up a team of designers who will work together more like a group of architects than a film art department. We will meet daily around an evolving model, and give everyone a chance for input in the overall design. Our team consists of some of the best designers in the business — working in analogue: Maya Shimaguchi, Luis Hoyos, Theo Sharps; working digitally: Richard Reynolds, Victor Martinez. I also bring in concept designer Mark Goerner.

March 2003: We continue to search for airports around North America. Although the Main Concourse itself is a build, we need Customs and Immigration area, Baggage Handling both in the Immigration Hall and below ground, a runway, the curbside and street entrance and a large complex of offices. We also need to start deep research of the inner workings of an airport. We visit LAX Terminal 3. Although we’re not going to be able to shoot there with all the post-9/11 regulations, the airport administrators graciously take us through the whole structure — physical and administrative — from arrival to curbside. It’s fascinating to penetrate the transparent membrane that restricts and directs the flow of passengers. Each airport we visit fascinates me more — as a British émigré myself, seeing behind the scenes of the immigration and airport security and how much it has changed since 9/11 is a glimpse into the heart of American politics.

As much as we are building a piece of architecture that represents the generic airport, we are also trying to create a metaphoric space that will represent a modern western city, and America itself. The research we are doing now will also give us the basic for a symbolic language out of the complex structure of an airport.

When Viktor arrives from a small town in Eastern Europe, he is an Everyman who in his innocent gaze reflects the corporate, consumer-driven, bureaucratic and highly stratified society that the audience inhabits. In the process of being forced to live in this space that is designed only for people in transit, he humanizes it.