How we turned an airline's identity — bold, unconventional, aspirational — into a physical executive floor at Wilson Airport. A look behind 'Cleared for Departure.'
When Renegade Air's executive floor came to us, it was a generic shell — no personality, no presence, no sense of the brand it was meant to represent at its highest level. The brief was simple to say and hard to do: make the airline's identity physical.
Where we started
Every transformation begins honestly. What existed on the third floor was bare structure — exposed roofing, a rough concrete floor, unfinished walls, and half-built joinery. There was good volume and good light, but nothing that said “airline,” let alone this one. That blank slate is exactly where the work begins: not by decorating, but by deciding what the space should make a visitor feel the moment the lift doors open.
We treated the shell as an opportunity rather than a problem. The ceiling height could carry drama. The long corridor could become a journey. The stairwell could become the centrepiece. Before a single material was chosen, we mapped how someone would move through the floor — arrival, reception, the climb, the executive suites — and designed each moment to build on the last.
The concept — Cleared for Departure
Every element became a deliberate signal — of motion, of altitude, of ambition. A dramatic black marble staircase rises through a cascading pendant installation. A lush green ceiling wraps the corridor like a canopy. The reception desk curves like a wing. This is not just an office — it is the brand made physical.
Identity in the details
Branded glass partitions carry the airline's identity in fluid, aerodynamic lines. A bespoke feature wall sends a model aircraft climbing through radar-line graphics, luggage trailing in its wake. Each detail is recognisably theirs — not a logo applied to a wall, but a brand built into the architecture.
A journey, not a corridor
Movement is the airline's whole business, so the floor is designed to be walked. From reception, a forest-green slat ceiling draws you down the executive corridor like a canopy — glass-walled offices on one side, a living moss wall on the other. Warm cove lighting, branded glass and planting layer together so the eye is led forward, suite by suite.
Materials with intent
Nothing here is incidental. Black Marquina-style marble with gold veining gives the staircase its drama. Preserved moss panels bring the outside in with zero maintenance. Warm walnut, hand-buffed brass, and a teal-glazed pantry keep the floor human at close range — luxurious, but never cold.
Sixteen weeks, one team
Ambition like this only survives if execution keeps pace. We held every stage in-house — concept, 3D visualisation, custom fabrication of the desk and feature wall, and day-to-day site coordination — so the marble, the joinery and the lighting all landed exactly as drawn. The client managed one team, not five.
From shell to signature
The same volume that began as raw concrete now announces who the company is before anyone says a word. That is the difference between a fit-out and an identity — and the reason the brief was never really about an office.
“A space stops being a backdrop and becomes an identity.”
— WAHA Studios
