The recent NOMAD design fair shone a light on an unexpected side to Abu Dhabi – the Arab Modernist architectural treasure designed in the 1970s by Paul Andreu.
There’s something deeply affecting about Modernist mid-century airports, with their bold architectural optimism and visions of futures that never quite arrived. Eero Saarinen’s space-age 1962 TWA Terminal in New York, the old Kai Tak Airport in Hong Kong, and Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport all embrace a sense of the future, and all became symbols of their cities.
Like these, Zayed International Airport’s Terminal 1 transcends its function by the singularity of its vision. Surrounded by desert 15 miles inland from Abu Dhabi Island, Zayed was commissioned in 1974 by the UAE’s founder, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and designed by Paul Andreu, the young French architect fresh from his success on the famous Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris.
It was a prescient choice. In many ways, Andreu reshaped the architecture of global air travel in the late twentieth century. For more than three decades, he served as the chief architect for Aéroports de Paris, designing or overseeing a remarkable sequence of more than 40 major airports worldwide whose bold structural clarity, sense of theatre and ambitious engineering made him globally influential.
In 1974, Andreu was at the height of his fame, and one can draw a direct line between the radical tubes and circular Modernism and Futurism of Charles de Gaulle airport and the new Abu Dhabi airport that began to take shape in the desert. But this was Modernism through an Arab lens – every bit as future-facing, though incorporating Middle Eastern motifs throughout, from the arabesque doorways and apertures surrounding the central circle, to the datepalm-like sunshades outside. And the sharp Brutalist angularity of Charles De Gaulle’s central hub here becomes softer, more billowing, like a desert tent.
Now decommissioned, Terminal 1 has recently taken on a new life as the venue for the travelling art and design fair, NOMAD. The fair’s founder and director, Nicolas Bellavance‑Lecompte, tells us: “It is one of the most iconic Modernist structures in the region. When NOMAD explored possible venues in the city, Terminal 1 immediately stood out. Its sweeping concrete curves, circular geometry, and expressive structural clarity create a rare architectural statement in the Gulf.”
From the sky, Terminal 1’s circular and radial formation is bold and uncompromising. An enormous concrete flying saucer forms the centre terminal, connected by single airbridge to the semi-circular Brutalist base terminal. From the central terminal, five gates, each a mini flying saucer, radiate out, connected by concrete tubes.
Inside, the fusion of Modernism with vaulted arches and geometric Arab motifs creates something beautiful and unexpected, with moody shifts of light and long shadows creating an internal visual architecture. Most dramatically, the terminal’s iconic central pillar cascades upwards, a vaulting fountain of lime-green and cobalt-blue hexagons, spreading outwards to form a canopy over the entire roof, like a fountain of Islamic motifs.
“Terminal 1 expresses a spirit of optimism and experimentation that defined the early decades of nation-building.”
Nicolas Bellavance‑Lecompte, founder and director, NOMAD design fair
“It carries the history of the first encounters with Abu Dhabi for generations of travellers,” says Bellavance‑Lecompte. “The Gulf is often associated with futuristic skylines, but its Modernist heritage is equally significant. Terminal 1 expresses a spirit of optimism and experimentation that defined the early decades of nation-building.”
For NOMAD, it was the perfect setting: “Terminal 1 embodies movement, transition, and anticipation. These ideas resonate deeply with the ethos of NOMAD. Presenting contemporary collectible design within this context creates a conversation between past and present, between architectural memory and the region’s current creative momentum.”
When it first opened in 1982, Terminal 1 was technologically advanced and, in many ways, ahead of its time. But as passenger volumes and modern-airport requirements outgrew the capacity and functional efficiency of the older terminal building, Zayed expanded into the new Terminal A, and Terminal 1 took its last commercial passenger in 2024.
A decade ago, it’s possible that Terminal 1 would have been redeveloped. Increasingly, though, its status as a rare piece of architectural heritage is being recognised, and is being championed by bodies including Abu Dhabi Airports and the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi, both of whom invited NOMAD to explore it as a potential venue. And following the success of the fair’s Abu Dhabi edition, it’s likely to contribute further to its status and future preservation.
For Bellavance‑Lecompte, the value of such architectural treasures is clear: “Our exhibitors are presenting work that speaks about materiality, identity, and craftsmanship in a global context. By placing these pieces within an architectural icon of travel, we create a dialogue about cultural exchange and the journeys objects take,” he says. “The setting becomes a metaphor for the circulation of ideas, design languages, and artistic visions across continents. It frames the fair as a place of connection.”
Read more: Design | Architecture | Abu Dhabi | Modernism | UAE