Ben Gurion International Airport, Terminal 3
Tel Aviv, Israel
Moshe Safdie and Associates / Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

Moshe Safdie and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill have created a travelers’ oasis in one of the world’s most heavily secured airports

© Alan Karchmenr / Esto

For more photos click on 'photos & drawings' above. To see the people and products behind this project click on 'people & products.'

By Andrea O. Dean

In a nation surrounded by unfriendly neighbors, the thoroughness of security at Israel’s Ben Gurion International Airport is legendary. Terminal 3 handles all of Israel’s overseas air traffic, replacing Terminal 1, an outmoded remnant from the 1930s British Mandate over Palestine. Because the project’s construction, begun in 1998, coincided with the four years of violent Intifada (the Palestinian uprising), it became a symbol of hope and the future.

The project was so large—2.4 million square feet, with an eventual capacity of 16 million passengers a year—that the Israel Airport Authority thought it best to hedge its bets by hiring two separate design teams. The New York City office of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM, with Karmi Architects of Jerusalem) was charged with overall planning and conceptual design and with responsibility for a structure that handles landside ticketing and arrivals functions. Israel-born architect Moshe Safdie’s Cambridge, Massachusetts, firm (with now-closed TRA Associate Architects) designed a linking structure and the airside departure areas and gates. During the three-year design phase, the teams met at least monthly to shape the work into a coherent whole.

SOM and Safdie sought to avoid the generic appearance of many large international airports, in part by reflecting the country’s culture and climate. Roger Duffy, SOM’s principal in charge, wanted Terminal 3 to embody the dichotomy of daily life in Israel, “a modern society imbued with a sense of ancient history and culture.” The extensive security procedures increase passenger wait time and tension, so Safdie and his team focused on making the passenger experience both calming and welcoming. Since Israel is both the actual home for many passengers and also the symbolic home for many Jews, the airport authority and the architects paid particular attention to dignifying the departure and arrival processes—experiences that can be particularly wrenching given the nation’s short, violence-soaked history.

By car, a white dishlike cap identifies the terminal from a distance. An upper-level drop-off ramp is separated by a gap (a precaution against vehicle explosions) over a lower-level train station. Across from the terminal, a garden of native plants, including seven mentioned in the Bible, sets the stage. It’s wrapped by the parking structure. Arcaded passageways take the passenger along the garden into the terminal, which is clad in the same Jerusalem stone as the Wailing Wall.

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Formal name of Project:
Ben Gurion International Airport, Terminal 3

Location:
Tel Aviv, Israel

Gross square footage:
1.2 Million sq. ft. Landside Terminal
2.9 million sq. ft. total project including Airside and parking facilities

Total construction cost:
$1 Billion

Owner:
Israel Airports Authority

Architect:
Moshe Safdie and Associates, Inc.
100 Properzi Way
Somerville, MA 02143
Tel: 617-629-2100
Fax: 617-629-2406
www.msafdie.com

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP
14 Wall Street
New York, NY 10005
T.212.298.9300
F.212.298.9461
www.som.com