Can an airport really be stunning? Whereas air terminals are sometimes inherently anxious, some amenities elevate the bar on design, turning into greater than mere transit factors to get from Level A to Level B.
Every year, the Prix Versailles, an annual worldwide architectural competitors unveiled on the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, acknowledges excellence in world business design. Along with the world’s most stunning airports, the group additionally acknowledges classes of buildings that embody campuses, practice stations, stadiums, museums, resorts, and eating places. The competitors, which dates again to 2015, celebrates not solely aesthetic high quality but in addition how buildings embody innovation, cultural significance, and sustainability.
For 2025, Prix Versailles has named six airport terminals, throughout 4 nations, as probably the most stunning on the earth. Two of these are in america. The information comes at a time when U.S. airports are getting a a lot wanted overhaul. Practically $12 billion in federal grants has been awarded to U.S. airports since 2022 for investments which have gone towards main infrastructure tasks, like fashionable concourses and facilities that elevate the passenger expertise.
To be thought-about for the airport award, judges checked out elements equivalent to a terminal’s format and move, integration with pure environment, and the usage of native supplies and design motifs. Listed here are the six terminals that received the Prix Versailles award in 2025.
Kansai Worldwide Airport (KIX) Terminal 1
Location: Osaka, Japan
First opened in 1994, Kansai Worldwide Airport (KIX) Terminal 1 was designed by famend Italian architect Renzo Piano. The mastermind’s blueprint included a sweeping, asymmetrical roofline, and in the present day, it nonetheless stands as one of many longest passenger terminal buildings on the earth.
Earlier in 2025, the terminal accomplished a seven-year renovation, growing worldwide capability by 25 %. International design agency Populous led the structure and inside design of the redevelopment, streamlining the passenger move for arrivals and introducing extra pure supplies and a way of place. Vacationers can even expertise floor-to-ceiling glass partitions that flood the terminal with mild and supply panoramic views of the ocean.
Marseille Provence Airport (MRS) Terminal 1
Location: Marignane, France
After three years of labor and a two-year closure, Terminal 1 at Marseille Provence Airport (MRS) reopened in June 2024. Designed by Foster + Companions, the landmark venture reorganizes passenger flows by simplifying the stream of fliers heading from land to air facet and vice versa. A further 1.2 million passengers can now be accommodated.
The up to date terminal options an inverted beam roof with a steady grid of glass skylights, bringing pure mild deep into the constructing and permitting for pure air flow. (This design considerably reduces the necessity for cooling.) Massive indoor timber had been additionally added, serving to deliver a way of calm and rest to the house.
Portland Worldwide Airport (PDX) Principal Terminal
Location: Portland, Oregon, United States
In 2024, Portland Worldwide Airport (PDX) opened a 1 million-square-foot, state-of-the-art terminal, that includes a curved forest-like cover with 72 floor-to-ceiling stay vegetation and 49 skylights. It’s the primary U.S. airport to completely embrace “biophilic design,” growing indoor areas with the pure world in thoughts. Analysis has proven that this design philosophy can cut back stress by lowering blood strain and coronary heart price. The airport’s inspiration? A stroll in a Pacific Northwest forest.
On the middle of the design is a mass timber roof that extends almost 400,000 sq. toes. The roof’s supplies had been sourced from native sustainable loggers and sovereign tribal teams, all inside a 300-mile radius of the airport. (The airport, due to this fact, consists of the scent of freshly lower wooden.)
Roland Garros Airport (RUN) Arrivals Terminal
Location: Réunion Island, France
Roland Garros Airport (RUN) debuted its new arrivals facility in early 2024, turning into the world’s first tropical bioclimatic airport construction. In different phrases, the design allows pure air flow all through the constructing, incorporating a central “canyon” that acts as a thermal chimney.
This eco-conscious design options 830 units of shutters, every related to sensors that regulate in actual time to altering climate situations. As well as, native vegetation, pure wooden, and volcanic stone all through the terminal join vacationers with the island’s pure magnificence.
San Francisco Worldwide Airport (SFO) Terminal 1
Location: San Francisco, United States
After almost eight years of development, the ultimate section of SFO’s Harvey Milk Terminal 1 venture was accomplished in June 2024. The terminal is on the cornerstone of SFO’s plan to turn into the primary airport on the earth to perform zero carbon emissions, zero waste going into landfill, and nil internet power.
The power, the primary terminal on the earth named after an brazenly homosexual elected official, is extensively praised for its considerate design, eco-friendly development, and deep cultural storytelling. As passengers stroll to gates, they’ll have views of San Francisco Bay from expansive floor-to-ceiling home windows. And so they can browse a everlasting multimedia set up celebrating the legacy of Milk as a civil rights icon.
Yantai Penglai Worldwide Airport (YNT) Terminal 2
Location: Yantai, China
Terminal 2 at Yantai Penglai Worldwide Airport (YNT), which opened final summer season, serves as a gateway to China from Japan and Korea. Yantai is a port metropolis within the Shandong province, and reinterpretations of picket ship hulls throughout the terminal are impressed by the Maritime Silk Highway.
The brand new facility’s sweeping roofline is meant to evoke Mount Kunyu, a mountain vary close to town. As well as, the whole terminal is flooded with pure mild, illuminating the curves, tones, and supplies that make up the inside.