Brushed Stainless Steel Wall Relief for an Airport Arrival Hall

An airport arrival hall needed a wall treatment that gave the space a sense of place without slowing down a traveller. We built a wide stainless steel wall relief from brushed panels with mirror-polished accents, so the wall carries light and orientation across a long sightline rather than reading as a flat surface.

The mirror accents are placed where they help: at points where a traveller looks up for direction, the polished panels catch and hold the daylight from the large windows.

The brief

An international airport wanted a durable wall treatment for an arrival hall 8 m ”
“long. It had to survive security scrub-down with harsh cleaners, withstand heavy foot ”
“traffic and luggage, and give the hall a sense of place without signage. The brief ”
“also required a finish that would not show the dust a busy hall accumulates.

The programme ran 14 weeks, delivered in 2025.

Design approach

The relief is a field of vertical brushed panels with mirror-polished accents set ”
“between them. The brushed panels are the dominant surface: they diffuse the window ”
“light and do not show dust, so the wall stays clean under routine cleaning. The ”
“mirror accents are placed at intervals where a traveller naturally looks up, so they ”
“catch the daylight and give the eye points of orientation across the long sightline.”
“

Material & engineering

304 stainless steel was specified for an interior hall: it resists the harsh security ”
“cleaners and the high humidity of a busy terminal, and brushed stainless hides the ”
“micro-scratches that a polished surface would show under luggage traffic. The panels ”
“are TIG-welded and mounted on a hidden frame fixed to the existing wall, so the ”
“visible surface carries no visible fixings.

At 8.0 m W × 2.4 m H the relief is built in modular sections so any panel can be ”
“removed for repair without disturbing the rest.

Fabrication & finish

The panels were cut, brushed and assembled in the shop, with the accent panels ”
“polished to a mirror. Brushed finish was chosen deliberately because a mirror across ”
“8 m would show every fingerprint and speck of dust in a hall cleaned several times a ”
“day. The visible face was inspected under directional light before crating.

Installation

The relief shipped as modular sections and was hung onto a pre-installed frame ”
“during a closure window, so the arrival hall stayed open to passengers. Sections were ”
“cleaned and checked in position before the hall reopened.

Outcome & value

The wall now gives the arrival hall a sense of place without adding signage or ”
“slowing a traveller. Under daily security cleaning the brushed panels stay clean, and ”
“the mirror accents hold the daylight across the hall. No panel has required ”
“re-finishing since installation.

Related guides

• stainless steel sculpture finishes explained — brushed vs mirror across a large field.
• how stainless steel sculptures are made — from sketch to install day.
• shipping stainless sculpture internationally — delivering a wide relief to a terminal.