King Abdul Aziz International Airport

Photos

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Honor Award

Perkins+Will
General Authority of Civil Aviation for Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in conjunction with DAR (Shair and Partners)

Division Commercial
Location Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

Overview

Highly contextual and sustainable, this airport would make innovative use of a veil-like skin, the exterior of which is coated glass and photovoltaics. The skin's absorptive interior protects airport users from sunlight glare. The encompassing veil, which encloses three terminals, an intra-terminal rail system, parking and the main airport entry, "solved the column problem beautifully," said one juror "without kitsch." The roof of the veil supports gardens of indigenous plants and water features, microclimates that filter and cool the desert air. Crescent-shaped terminals with fabric roofs bring in diffused natural light during the day but glow at night from within, inscribing a national symbol onto the landscape. Jurors commented that here and elsewhere in the project, the architects "have used important Islamic geometry in ways that are not typical. They've stretched it and pulled it in new ways."