Design unveiled for Kuwait International Airport

Architects Foster & Partners have released artists' impressions of the new Kuwait International Airport terminal building, construction of which is scheduled to begin next year.

The new terminal will be built to the south of the current terminal complex and cover 140000 m². It is planned eventually increase the regional capacity of the airport to 50 million annual passengers, with an initial capacity of 13 million annual passengers after the first phase of construction is complete.

Kuwait International Airport currently handles about 7 million passengers per year.

Located outside Kuwait City, the airport's new terminal will consist of three symmetrical wings of departure gates. Each façade spans 1.2 km, and the building has been strategically located to enable further expansion.

The five storey building will have four levels above ground and one underground level. Its highest point will reach 39 m, and the roof will be covered by a 60 m span concrete shell canopy.

Engineering firm Arup also helped to develop the designs.