Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) at Sepang is designed and built to be an efficient, competitive and world-class hub airport for the Asia-Pacific Region. It substitutes the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah International Airport at Subang as the prime gateway into the nation. The new mega airport, complete with the latest technology and facilities, is targeting at providing maximum passenger safety, comfort and convenience. It is unique because it has within its boundaries all that are needed for business, entertainment and relaxation. In short, KLIA is a destination in itself.

When passengers arrive at the new KLIA, at Sepang, they will experience glimpses of a green Malaysia through the unique architecture, enjoy the world renowned Malaysian hospitality and feel the ease of modern hi-tech conveniences that minimize waiting time. Designed by known Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa, the KLIA is a spectacular feat of construction which mixes futuristic technology, Malaysian culture and the rich, tropical splendor of its natural resources, and is regarded as one of the most modern and sophisticated airports in the Asia-Pacific region. It will incorporate forms and systems suggesting advancement and modernization while at the same time, support Malaysia’s cultural history.

The strict grid on which the terminal complex was designed allows for flexible adjustment to future changing needs. Kurokawa incorporated the country’s rainforest potential in his design: the shape of the high-pitched, moss-green roof harmonizes with the green-belt land immediately surrounding the airport. The undulating design of the roof evokes the lines of Islamic domes and the overhang creates shaded outdoor space between car and airport. On the inside of the main terminal building, repetitive conical columns made of granite and clad in wood are decorated with patterns found on the trunks of the oil palm; slender skylights are formed at the seams.

From the air, the KLIA looks like a futuristic structure lies in a remote jungle. Surrounding the airport is a tropical forest. More than a million trees and shrubs are transplanted both within and outside the large Passenger Terminal Complex, according to the airport management authorities. Malaysia is home to the world’s oldest tropical rain forests. The KLIA is therefore often conceived as the ‘airport in the forest, forest in the airport’, so flexuous would be the boundaries between the physical structure of the airport and its green ambience.

The terminal consists of two symmetrical sections, one for national and one for international flights, each comprising one basement and five floors above ground. The contact pier along the length of the main terminal allows the maximum number of planes to dock with the minimum linear area. The roof of the pier is made increasingly higher in the direction of the airside to link it with the main terminal. The complex also facilitates retail space, leisure areas, waiting areas, conference rooms, a hotel and restaurants.

Every effort has been made to create a homely airport with a serene environment combined with high technology attractions. Nature and greenery will be part of the airport in line with the airport in the forest and forest in the airport concept. The natural environment of the airport will be transformed to functions and activities that continue to enhance nature. The architecture of all the new facilities will maximize the use of the forest concept and imagery with strategic locations designed with high standards of environmental performance in mind.

The central hub of the Satellite Building offers travelers a landscaped garden, including forest trees and sculptured waterfall for enjoyment and relaxation. The landscaped circular hub of the Satellite building features a forest in the airport. The airport is perhaps unique in the world for its environmental aspirations. The central theme is carried out through a rain forest arboretum in the center of the international terminal and forested grounds surrounding the facility. The forested edges of the airport will serve as a buffer to keep the surrounding development in control, while concentric landscape and forest rings are designed to surround the airport site creating the effect of an ‘airport in the forest’.

The courtyard between the Main Terminal Building and Contact Pier, as well as the center courtyard of the Satellite Building will be densely planted to create an image of the Malaysian Rain forest thus portraying the effect of a ‘forest in the airport’. Strategically located forest areas are proposed within the airport site to act as natural landmarks evoking ideas of a tropical image. Essentially the creation of a tropical image with its accompanying theme of an ‘airport in the forest’ and ‘forest in the airport’ will serve as a counterbalance to the latest features of the new airport.

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