McDonalds, Sydney Airport

Floating above departing passengers, announcing itself from afar, is a yellow glass box; the new McDonalds “Sky Kitchen. Behind the translucent glowing glass, the kitchen team are actors, fulfilling orders & providing theatre in the process. Food is efficiently and spectacularly delivered, transported down from above attached to a conveyor.

The space that McDonalds was leased was too small for more than the kitchen itself. So, in a crowded and bustling departures hall, Landini Associates asked if they could lease the volume above too; place the kitchen above the “throng”, and put it on display.

Placing the kitchen in the sky and making it entirely of glass created structural challenges, but ensuring it could deliver its wares to the customers below, efficiently, quickly and without causing chaos was a steeper challenge. To combat these challenges they combined kiosk ordering technology and a “transporter” delivery system, normally hidden in shafts in kitchens in Asia, where rent is so high that kitchens perch on the top of buildings. They chose to expose all this though – the modernized ordering system, the kitchen and the double height vertical transportation – which combine to create a spectacle not seen here or any other McDonald’s globally.

The original kitchen was on the ground and 25m from the customer pickup point, so locating the kitchen above provides an efficient delivery method and a stunning and iconic expression for this dynamic brand. The material palette is stylish and simple: concrete, glass, stainless steel and oak.