Well some airports are better designed than others and I'd imagine it's bloody difficult to do well. But the criteria of a good airport design is something most

Well some airports are better designed than others and I'd imagine it's bloody difficult to do well. But the criteria of a good airport design is something most people can agree on and it's not about sexiness but about being able to get from A to B, get your luggage, find toilets and changing areas, find transport to the city etc. If you accept that form follows function, degrading function will make things less 'sexy' not more. Aesthetically attractive design is an emergent property of cohesive, useful, and consistent implementation, not something smeared on top to prettify - works well looks best. It's why we prefer tools like IRC, SMS, and text editors without embellishment. It's a lot of why this site or Reddit or Google is popular.