King Khalid Airport Mosque
[9] The airport was the first in Saudi Arabia to be built to then-contemporary engineering standards and the mosque was at the time of its construction the most modern mosque in the world, notable for its use of advances in construction and engineering to create a modern complex in a vernacular Arabic style, and for its program of integral art, at that time the largest in the world,[10] marrying traditional Islamic decorative elements[11] with, and interpreted through, the work of contemporary artists.[14] Hexagonal in plan, and enclosing an area of over 5,600 square metres (60,000 sq ft), its scale, location and design make it the most dominant building in the passenger complex.The dome's apex, at 40 metres (131 ft 3 in) above the arrivals level roadway, is higher than all the other structures in the passenger complex with the exception of the airport control tower and the mosque's minaret.The hand-cut glass and marble mosaic, measuring 250 square metres (2,700 sq ft) and fabricated with the assistance of Brian Clarke, a British architectural artist, was the largest in the world.Clarke made a study of Islamic ornament at the Quran schools in Fez and Tangiers for six weeks, and produced a series of abstract designs that engaged with historical pan-Islamic decorative tradition.