Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), the Chicago-based architectural firm which designed the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa, has won '2010 American Institute of Architects (AIA) 25 Year' award for the Hajj Terminal at King Abdul Aziz Airport.

The AIA 25-Year award recognises architectural design of enduring significance and is conferred on projects that have stood the test of time for 25 to 35 years as an embodiment of architectural excellence.

Projects must demonstrate excellence in function – in the distinguished execution of its original program and in the creative aspects of its statement by today’s standards.

Designed by SOM’s Chicago and New York offices and completed in 1981, the Hajj Terminal in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia becomes a temporary city for Muslims who decamp from planes and await transportation to Makkah and Medinah during Hajj.

SOM created a series of tent-like structures which shelter up to 80,000 pilgrims at a time.

“This project exemplifies the power of a clear idea. With a very simple bay repeated quite beautifully, they set the standard for many airports since. The architects created a highly sustainable project well ahead of the green movement,' the award jury commented.

'The terminal presents a sense of place, ecology, economy of means, and culture – not imposing on but learning from the local culture and environment,' it added.

The 120-acre terminal consists of two identical roofed halves separated by a landscaped central mall. The first half of the terminal contains air conditioned buildings; the second half is a vast, open-sided temperate waiting and support area.

The visually arresting Teflon-coated fiberglass roof structure consists of 10 modules of 21 semi-conical fabric roof units. Each module is supported by 147-foot tall steel cables along the rooftop.

Nearly 40 million travelers have passed through the Hajj Terminal since its completion, it added. 

Jeffrey J. McCarthy, AIA, partner in SOM’s Chicago office, said, “On behalf of all of the SOM partners, we are honored to receive this prestigious award from the AIA. It is an award that we value above all others.  However, it is a gift of legacy that we inherit from those that worked before us. We graciously accept this in their honor.”

The original team included Gordon Bunshaft, FAIA, Gordon Wildermuth, FAIA, and structural engineer Fazlur Khan. The Hajj Terminal has also received a 1983 AIA National Honor Award, the 1983 Aga Khan Award for Architecture and a 1981 Progressive Architecture award. 

SOM has won four previous Twenty-Five Year awards for the Lever House in New York, the Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel in Colorado Springs, John Hancock Center in Chicago, and the Weyerhaeuser Headquarters in Federal Way, Washington.-TradeArabia News Service