At this time of year, most eyes are on the airport as lucky families and friends jet off for a well-deserved break. Now, travellers will have something new to marvel at as they chomp on a croissant whilst waiting for their flights, as Manchester Airport has revealed a brand new art installation as part of the redevelopment of Terminal 2.
The new, large-scale installation by Lazerian reinterprets one of the Airport’s most recognisable historic features: its original chandeliers. Titled ‘Atmospheric Reflections of the North‘, the work transforms the chandeliers not through restoration, but through reinvention.
Rather than preserving them as singular decorative objects, Lazerian has deconstructed the original pieces, redistributing their glass droplets across a suspended, spatial installation that responds to the scale and movement of the new terminal environment. The result is a shift from object to atmosphere.
Drawing subtly on the character of the North, the installation evokes familiar conditions, overcast skies, rainfall, and low cloud but avoids literal representation. Instead, it creates an ambient experience that changes with light, movement, and perspective. Positioned between security and departures, the piece inhabits a transitional space, quietly altering how passengers experience and move through the terminal.
“There was an opportunity not just to preserve the chandeliers, but to extend their life in a way that felt relevant to the new context,” says Lazerian founder Liam Hopkins. “By breaking them down and redistributing their material, the work becomes something more fluid, less about a single object and more about a shared presence across the space.”
The installation also carries subtle references to Manchester’s industrial heritage. Repeated structural elements take cues from fabric systems and engineered assembly, while parachute-like forms nod to the Airport’s aviation history. These layered influences are embedded into the work, rather than applied, creating a piece that feels integrated into its setting.
At the core of the project is a commitment to material reuse. Each glass droplet, once part of the original chandeliers, has been retained and recontextualised. In doing so, the installation preserves the memory of the Airport’s past while allowing it to evolve within a contemporary architectural framework.
Light plays a central role in how the work is experienced. As it filters through the suspended glass, it creates subtle, shifting patterns that change throughout the day. There is no single fixed viewpoint; the installation is designed to be encountered in motion, revealing different densities and compositions depending on where it is seen.
‘Atmospheric Reflections of the North’ reflects Lazerian’s wider approach to design, one that values not only what materials are, but what they have been, and how their stories can be extended through transformation.
