Designed to accommodate millions of international travelers, this monumental project attends to the varying needs of those making the sacred pilgrimage to Mecca.
SOM reinterpreted the highly identifiable form of the Bedouin tent to create a marvel that became the world’s largest cable-stayed, fabric-roofed structure upon its completion in 1981. The terminal serves as a physically welcoming, culturally symbolic, and structurally innovative portal for more than one million pilgrims annually.
The terminal, located at the King Abdulaziz International Airport, is 43 miles west of the Holy City of Mecca. Approximately once a year during a six-year period, vast numbers of Muslims from around the world embark on the Hajj pilgrimage, passing through the airport en route to Mecca. In designing the terminal, SOM needed to create a facility that could handle a large volume of people with highly diversified needs.
There may be no building more seminal to its type than the Hajj Terminal, yet largely unknown today. The result was both deeply resonant and entirely new.
Read more: A Terminal Worthy of a Pilgrimage
In response, SOM designed a linear terminal building and a separate, large support complex where travelers can comfortably prepare for their journey to Mecca. The complex contains facilities for sleep, food preparation, and various support services.
The naturally ventilated building is topped by 210 semi-conical, Teflon-coated fiberglass roof units that are contained within a total of 10 modules. The modules are supported by 45-meter-high steel pylons. Because the fabric has a low heat transmission, it allows the sun to cast a warm light over the support area. At night, it becomes a great reflective surface, as uplights bounce light from the roof to the ground below.
Decades after its completion, the Hajj Terminal continues to accommodate the annual pilgrimage. More recently, it became the setting for a new type of gathering: in the spring of 2023, the terminal hosted the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale, which attracted more than 500,000 visitors during its four-month run.
In the spring of 2023, the Hajj Terminal hosted the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale, attracting over 500,000 visitors during its four-month run. Organized by the Diriyah Biennale Foundation, the event provided the world’s first large-scale survey of Islamic arts and culture in the religion’s birthplace, modern-day Saudi Arabia.
The naturally ventilated western half of the terminal supplied the vast flexibility and dramatic backdrop required for showcasing art at the scale of an international exhibition. For many visitors, particularly non-Muslims, the Biennale provided an opportunity to experience the enduring design of the terminal for the first time.
Taking advantage of the terminal’s expansive and adaptable spaces, the Biennale was staged across 12,000 square meters. It featured the work of more than 60 artists from over 30 countries and 280 artifacts from local and international institutions, including the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture and the Louvre. The Biennale was organized by the overarching theme of “Awwal Bait” (“First House”), a reference to the holiest site in Islam. With artworks physically oriented towards the Qiblah—the direction of the sacred Kaaba, the building at the center of the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca—the layout of the six exhibition galleries reflected Islamic rituals.
Following the success of the inaugural Islamic Arts Biennale, the Hajj Terminal will continue to host the event in the future. Initially conceived as a transportation hub to accommodate millions of international pilgrims making the sacred trip to Mecca, the terminal’s partial transformation into a permanent new home for culture highlights Saudi Arabia’s emerging role in the international art scene and demonstrates that airports can also be meaningful spaces for culture.
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