Sydney Airport Public Bathrooms

The Brief

Sydney Airport engaged DesignInc’s Interiors team to refurbish eight bathroom facilities across T1 International and T2 + T3 Domestic terminals. The brief called for spaces that felt genuinely comfortable — drawing on residential design cues rather than institutional conventions — while meeting a comprehensive set of accessibility and inclusivity requirements.

Deliverables included adult accessible changing facilities, gender-neutral bathrooms, and generously upgraded parent rooms with private feeding rooms, baby change areas, microwaves, and hot water taps. The project also introduced new pet relief areas for passengers travelling with assistance animals.

The entire programme was designed and delivered within a live terminal environment, with the completed design intended as a baseline concept for future rollout across Sydney Airport’s full site portfolio.

Material Specification

Corian® Solid Surface was specified for all primary wet area surfaces throughout the upgrade. The selection reflects the material’s performance credentials in extreme high-traffic environments: non-porous, homogeneous, and fully repairable in place.

Three colours were specified across distinct functional zones. Witch Hazel was used for the washplanes, its warm neutral tone grounding the scheme alongside the integrated Dyson Airblade™ Tap that allows passengers to wash and dry hands without moving. Verdant was specified for the baby change benchtops and vanity surfaces, bringing a considered colour moment into the parent room environment. Glacier White was used for the baby baths, providing a clean, hygienic surface appropriate for the most sensitive application in the project.

Corian®’s thermoformability enabled the seamlessly curved geometries central to the scheme’s residential-quality aesthetic. Its non-porous surface resists bacteria and moisture penetration, and surface marks can be repaired and refinished in place — protecting the asset without facility closures or material replacement.

Colours specified: Witch Hazel (washplanes) · Verdant (baby change benchtops, vanity benchtops) · Glacier White (baby baths)

Design Outcome

The completed facilities represent a step change from the institutional amenity typical of public transport infrastructure. Natural light integration, noise-reducing surfaces, warm material finishes, and concealed LED lighting combine to create an environment calibrated for comfort — including for passengers with hidden disabilities such as autism.

The Corian® washplane configuration with integrated Dyson Airblade™ Tap removes the movement typically required between handwashing and drying, reducing floor drip, slip hazard risk, and congestion at peak travel periods. The seamless surface construction means no grout lines to deteriorate or harbour bacteria in the sustained moisture environment of an airport washroom.

The design also builds on existing airport infrastructure to transition toward more energy-efficient systems — including low-usage fittings, efficient heat pump infrastructure, and an adaptive daylight scheme — supporting Sydney Airport’s transition to a more circular approach to asset management.

“Its intuitive composition, warm palette and incorporation of natural light creates a unique experience fit for all travellers — a new benchmark for Sydney Airport.” — DesignInc

Why It Works for Similar Projects

Transport terminals, airports, and large public venues share a specification challenge that separates them from most commercial environments: surfaces must sustain highest-intensity use while meeting rigorous hygiene and maintenance requirements across an extended asset lifecycle.

Corian® is well suited to these environments. Its seamless fabrication capability means no grout lines and no joints — surfaces that are straightforward to clean and maintain. Thermoformability enables the continuous curved geometries that elevate design quality while eliminating the accumulation points that complicate cleaning regimes. And Corian® can be renewed and restored in place: a surface imperfection becomes a maintenance task, not a replacement project.

The colour flexibility demonstrated here — three colours across distinct functional zones within a single programme — shows how Corian® can support both design intent and operational differentiation within complex, multi-use facilities.

CASF Australia provides full technical delivery support for projects of this scale and complexity through the Corian® Design Certainty Service — including shop drawings, renders, and fabrication-ready documentation at no cost to the specifier.

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