Ben Gurion International Airport

The new terminal handling nine million passengers per year serves as Israel's principal gateway. Divided into landside and airside complexes, the former contains ticketing, customs, immigration, and baggage claim; the latter connects a rotunda offering food, retail facilities, and passenger services with five concourses radiating outward. Departing passengers check-in and descend through the arcaded, glazed connector into the rotunda, proceeding to their designated gates. Arriving passengers ascend through fixed bridges at the gates to a mezzanine overlooking the concourses and the rotunda and then descend toward passport control through the connector, crisscrossing departing passengers. Capped by a shallow dish that appears to float overhead, the rotunda receives clerestory light; rain enters the space through an oculus skylight as a waterfall. The concourse and connector are constructed of precast concrete columns and beams that accommodate within them the mechanical system.