World's Ugliest Airports
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, Atlanta
What does the Atlanta airport look like on the outside? Does it even have an outside? Many passengers at the world’s busiest airport are simply there to change from one Delta flight to the next, so all they ever see is the underground transportation mall or the automated people mover. “The King of the Uglies,” proclaims Greg Lindsay, author of the forthcoming Aerotropolis, who objects in particular to the airport’s rectangular concourses. The massive central atrium—which houses a food court and a large dinosaur skeleton—is done in an architectural style one might call Mid-‘80s American Shopping Mall. And the color scheme leaves much to be desired: “Planet beige!” cries industrial designer David Gresham.
The Upside: Somewhere in concourse B there’s a Nestlé’s Cookie Cart.