King Abdulaziz International Airport City
Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
King Abdulaziz International Airport City
The General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) requested five real estate developers to submit conceptual proposals for the plot located in front of the main terminal at King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah. Covering an area of over 900,000 square meters, the project offers direct access to the Al Haaramain Railway Station and the main terminal. ABDULLAH ALZEER + PARTNERS was selected by Al Andalus Real Estate Development Company to submit the architectural conceptual proposal to GACA.
Poisoned on a highly valuable and strategically important site, the project represents a significant landmark for King Abdulaziz International Airport in Jeddah.
Our approach was to use the main airport terminal and railway station as our starting points. The functional requirements of GACA guided the zoning of the masterplan, distributing the project into four areas and creating four major volumes within the plot: two volumes located in front of the airport and railway station, and the other two situated at the opposite end of the project. the architectural concept was developed to create a long boulevard starting from the main terminal and railway station and ending at the Grand Mosque located at the other end of the project.
The boulevard is the center of all activities, serving as a pathway developed for walking and meeting places between the four zones. This central area connects all zones through a large and extensive open space. Despite the different functions of each zone, it was essential to create a form unity that would connect them all. The central boulevard and the airport roads encircling the project establish a design formal that unifies all elements in the masterplan to form a single, cohesive masterplan.
The four zones are:
- Convention Center, connected to a four starts hotel
- Mall, connected to a five-stars hotel
- Business Oasis
- Residential Quarter
The project fosters a strong relationship between the airport terminal and railway station, both serving passengers and the extended masterplan that offers a divers business portfolio – including a convention center, mall, hotels, residential area, office buildings, and the boulevard. Simultaneously, it showcases the integration between service-oriented airport terminal and railway station with a profit – generating extended masterplan. The complexity of the project and its location required a cost-sensitive design approach in creating the zoning and the concept.
The masterplan establishes a homogenized development centered around the four zones and the boulevard. Our aim was to minimize car usage and encourage walking by creating a well-defined buffer zone between the project’s buildings and the parking areas.
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