Gigaproject
KSA
A model for future sustainable development
Service
Masterplanning & Urban Design
Sector
Aviation + Transport
Size
16,250,000m2
Solution
The 16,250,000 m² masterplan is a unique airport environment within one of Saudi Arabia’s most ambitious gigaprojects, creating an aviation gateway that integrates fully into the surrounding urban fabric and delivers a new model for the passenger boarding experience.
The Canyon
The masterplan is anchored by the Canyon, a dramatic arrival destination cut into striking red rock. Lined with retail, restaurants, and immersive exhibition spaces, the Canyon ensures that the experience of the destination begins immediately upon arrival, before passengers have reached their gate. The integration of landscape, culture, and commerce within the arrival sequence sets the airport apart from conventional aviation typologies.
City Processors
To facilitate a stress-free passenger experience at scale, the masterplan proposes a network of City Processors, decentralised screening facilities integrated with nearby urban transport hubs. By relocating passenger screening functions away from the airport itself, the processors extend the public realm of the surrounding city into the aviation network, reducing congestion at the terminal and creating a more considered, lower-stress journey for passengers from city to gate.
The result is an airport conceived not as a standalone infrastructure project but as a catalyst for the wider growth of the destination, bringing the fabric of the city directly into the heart of its international gateway.
