KPF has designed Abu Dhabi International Airport Midfield Complex, which is integral to the Abu Dhabi 2030 plan — transforming the desert into the ‘Garden of the Gulf’ through a design that responds to its natural environment, while meeting the needs of the rapidly expanding capital.
On plan, the X-shape provides the greatest programmatic efficiencies enabling the terminal to extend from 39 to 49 gates which would ultimately process around 50 million travellers each year. The roof of the piers along the X is ‘pulled down’ on the facade in an undulating form to protect the building and its habitants from the sun. Also guided by the project’s environmental objectives the building includes a number of measures including the reduction in the use of potable water by using dry climate landscaping and the efficient use of natural day lighting supplemented with low energy lighting.
