The Hajj Terminal at King Abdul Aziz International Airport, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), the Chicago-based architectural firm, has won the 2010 American Institute of Architects (AIA) Twenty-Five Year award.

SOM is also the designer of Burj Khalifa – the world’s tallest building located in Dubai.

Designed by SOM’s Chicago and New York offices and completed in 1981, the Hajj Terminal in Jeddah becomes a temporary city for Muslims who decamp from planes and await transportation to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina during the six weeks of Hajj.

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

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

The award jury commented, “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 terminal presents a sense of place, ecology, economy of means, and culture – not imposing on but learning from the local culture and environment.”

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 is an award that we value above all others,” said Jeffrey J. McCarthy, AIA, partner in SOM’s Chicago office.

The Hajj Terminal had also received a 1983 AIA National Honor Award, the 1983 Aga Khan Award for Architecture and a 1981 Progressive Architecture award.-TradeArabia News Service