- Area: 92000 m²
- Year: 2019
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Photographs:Hufton + Crow
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Manufacturers: Aluminum Construction Group, Brand Ind. Group / Hagiva Y.H. LTD., GreenSky, Gualini S.p.A., Inovate, Luce Lighting, Vitra, Wolfman Industries
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Elevators: Consulting Engineers LTD., S. Lustig
Text description provided by the architects. The Ilan and Asaf Ramon International Airport was designed by Amir Mann-Ami Shinar Architects and Planners in partnership with Moshe Zur Architects. The Airport, servicing the Red Sea resort city of Eilat and surrounding region, was commissioned by the Israel Airport Authority (IAA) and was handled from A to Z by the architects in their role as Design Managers. Located in Timna, it is Israel's first civil airport built from scratch ("greenfield").
The Airport features a 45,000 sqm Passenger Terminal Building, a 3,600 m. long Runway and Taxiway, alongside 40 Aprons, allowing for domestic and international traffic. The two Support Structures to the north and south of the Terminal measure a combined 36,210 sqm with a 45 m. high Air Control Tower.
The architects developed a unique and minimal design language influenced by the futuristic world of aviation and its seemingly timeless natural desert surrounding. The decision of the IAA to appoint the architects as design managers responsible for budget, program, and planning schedule, allowed for the architects to implement the design across the entire airport - from the various buildings to each individual check-in counter, unifying the airport under one unique holistic design.
The mushroom-like rock formations found in Israel's National Timna Park served as inspiration for the initial geometry of the Passenger Terminal Building as a self-shading volume. Just as the rocks are shaped by the "natural movements" of wind and water, the Terminal's opaque volume was carved by the "natural movements" of the passenger traffic. Glass curtain walls were inserted, surrounding patios that introduce the natural desert landscaping into the building. These serve as light wells allowing natural light into the depths of the Terminal, instead of the commonly used skylights, impossible within such climate conditions.
The Terminal's envelope consists of a steel and concrete skeleton structure, cladded to the exterior with insulating aluminum triangular panels, continuous from wall to roof that create one single mass. Towards the interior, the building's volume is hollowed out and the envelope is cladded in a contrasting bamboo-wood, uniting the ceiling and walls over one continuous space.
The Terminal building's minimalist interior scheme is based on a tightly organized high-ceilinged hall with low-level furniture and pavilions acting as dividers. Its entire infrastructure is hidden on a lower level. This allows for the roof to be free of any technical equipment as a fifth façade viewed from the airplane window, and for all passenger processes to be efficiently on one single level.
The landscape design development drew inspiration from the existing river delta fan created by the mountain flooding into the desert valley. Thus, the delicately winding paths of the parking lot and the landscape development follow the shape of the natural spill from the streams. In addition, local plant seeds were harvested and preserved at the site, grown and incubated in greenhouses during the years of construction, and finally returned to their original location, to serve as the desert vegetation lining the airport's landscape.
