College students see their artwork displayed to thousands of passengers at Manchester Airport
- Students were commissioned to design artwork reflecting Manchester Airport’s destinations, to adorn a busy new section of the airport
- Competition winners saw their work taking pride of place on visit to Terminal 2 last Friday
- Access tunnel will allow passengers to walk between departure lounge and gates while work is completed on £1.3bn terminal redevelopment
College students have seen their art go on display to thousands of passengers in a new section of Manchester Airport after they won a competition.
The airport challenged local sixth form students to design artwork to adorn a new section of the airport put in place to allow passengers to access gates while work continues on Terminal 2 as part of the airport’s £1.3bn transformation programme.
The winning students from University Technical College (UTC) Media City had the opportunity to see their artwork on display at Manchester Airport last Friday, as they took a tour of the new-look Terminal 2.
Students from six colleges and tertiary education providers had entered the competition, which asked them to produce graphics depicting destinations that passengers can fly to from the terminal.
Desings were judged by representatives from the airport and from contractors working on the ongoing £1.3bn Terminal 2 transformation programme, including Pascall + Watson, Mace and Agency Creative.
An overall prize was awarded to UTC Media City, and four individual winners were selected from other colleges and sixth-forms. The winning artwork is now on display in a new temporary access tunnel, which links the terminal’s departure lounge with some of its gates, bypassing the construction site where the final phase of the transformation programme is underway.
Jonathan Irwin, a teacher at UTC Media City, said: “The students really enjoyed the freedom the brief provided and the opportunity to explore different techniques and processes to design their work.
“When the students visited the airport and saw their work on the wall, it made them feel extremely proud of what they'd achieved. They really felt honoured with a ribbon cutting, tour and photos taken with their work. It was an amazing journey and experience for the students to work for something so public and prestigious.”
Rick Wagstaffe, Director of MAN-TP Change at Manchester Airport, added: “The artwork that UTC Media City students submitted was brilliant – it was creative, original and does a great job of capturing the sheer variety and diversity of the destinations passengers can fly to from this terminal. We’re sure it will brighten their journeys.”