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As the new airport opens in western Sydney, we take a look at how it became a reality. See all stories.<\/a><\/p>\n It is one element that will undoubtedly strike passengers when they walk off aircraft into the new airport terminal on Sydney\u2019s western fringe.<\/p>\n From the aerobridges to the spacious departure area and baggage claim, the opportunity for natural light to reach into the deepest recesses of Western Sydney International Airport\u2019s<\/a> multi-level terminal is everywhere.<\/p>\n That is no coincidence. One of its distinguishing characteristics reflects design work that began almost a decade ago, led by COX Architecture principal David Holm and Zaha Hadid Architects director Cristiano Ceccato.<\/p>\n The genesis for the terminal\u2019s eye-catching ceiling, which scatters light into the building, lies under what was once a eucalypt canopy several kilometres from where the terminal now stands.<\/p>\n After Ceccato flew from London to work with Holm in 2018 on an entry for an international design competition for the terminal, the pair drove to the sprawling airport site at Badgerys Creek to search for inspiration. At the time, it was still farmland dotted with eucalypt forest.<\/p>\n \u201cWe sort of slightly trespassed onto the site,\u201d Holm quips. \u201cI was telling him about the idea about gum trees. In Australia, they generally don\u2019t lose their leaves in a sort of deciduous pattern. The leaves fall, but it is the bark that is actually changing. He was fascinated by that.\u201d<\/p>\n It led to the idea of light shining through eucalyptus bark becoming the inspiration for the terminal\u2019s wave-like ceiling. \u201cWhere the ceiling undulates and the light that dapples through it, the idea of that is walking through an Australian eucalypt forest,\u201d Holm says.<\/p>\n A year after their walk through the eucalypt forest, COX Architecture and Zaha Hadid won the international competition<\/a> for the airport terminal, and over the following two years finalised plans as the concept design architects. Working with Indigenous design consultant Carol Vale from Murawin early on, it was a rare opportunity to design the key part of an airport before a future city<\/a> was built near it at Bradfield.<\/p>\n Later, Woods Bagot realised the concepts as design and delivery architect for the terminal\u2019s builder Multiplex. It involved thousands of decisions, the biggest of which included lifting the roofline and expanding view lines.<\/p>\n An early instruction was that it should be regarded as western Sydney\u2019s first airport, instead of the city\u2019s second. That struck a chord as Holm and Ceccato set about ensuring passengers feel the terminal is about what makes up western Sydney and what it can be.<\/p>\n As such, passengers will arrive in what is designed to feel like a \u201cvery Australian landscape\u201d. And the \u201cidea of walking in a Cumberland Plains forest\u201d as they pass through the terminal is aimed to help subliminally allay the stress people often feel at an airport.<\/p>\n \u201cPart of the experience is about a richness of natural light, a richness of colour, a richness of material. You\u2019re getting a true sense of what it\u2019s like to be in an Australian landscape,\u201d Holm says.<\/p>\n Across the globe, airport terminals often comprise departure areas on an upper level and arrivals underneath, which means passengers usually step off planes and walk into grey, dreary corridors.<\/p>\n Setting the new $6 billion international airport apart is the fact the terminal\u2019s floor plan has been split, resulting in the \u201cgreat Australian light\u201d streaming onto each level, including the baggage hall and departures area.<\/p>\n The arrivals area for international passengers is on the terminal\u2019s highest level, which is unusual in airport designs. Looking out to the Blue Mountains, western Sydney is etched into the brownish colours of materials such as terrazzo floors. The international arrivals floor also offers views over the departures area, which has a large high-ceiling space with windows that encourage a view westwards out to the runway and the mountains.<\/p>\n Related Article The terminal\u2019s signature ceiling will become visible to arriving international passengers when they turn a corner and approach border control. And after a long-haul flight, the prospect of natural light reaching passengers who are picking up their luggage from baggage carousels on the ground floor is intended to buoy their spirits. As a prolific hand-sketcher, Holm drew his first for the terminal of the baggage hall bathed in light.<\/p>\n In his work previously for architecture firm Woodhead, Holm was involved in designing the interior of Changi Airport\u2019s Terminal 3 in Singapore for a decade from 2000 to 2010. Back then, Singapore\u2019s reputation as a garden city was transported into the terminal in the form of a butterfly garden, along with a focus on allowing in light. \u201cSingapore had to make itself interesting as a transit destination. So all the things you necessarily would not think about in a transport hub, Changi Terminal 3 has,\u201d Holm recalls.<\/p>\n In the same way, ideas that were used in Singapore about light and place have been adopted in western Sydney. Apart from the underground Victoria Cross metro station<\/a> at North Sydney, Holm also worked on the design of a large dome \u2013 known as the marketplace \u2013 at Sydney Airport\u2019s international terminal, as well as other airports around the country and overseas.<\/p>\n For Ceccato, the terminal will be a \u201cmore human experience\u201d for passengers than larger airports he has played a role in designing. Under the long-term plans for Western Sydney Airport, the terminal that has been built will be the first of four which will eventually be capable of handling more than 80 million passengers a year.<\/p>\n \u201cBuilding it with these smaller terminals certainly gives you an opportunity of having a human understandable scale,\u201d Ceccato says. \u201cIt\u2019s not one of these mega-airports on day one, which overwhelm you with size and scale and being bludgeoned with retail.\u201d<\/p>\n While hesitating at selecting a favourite terminal from those he has designed, Ceccato says Western Sydney Airport\u2019s is the one that resonates in terms of scale and intimacy.<\/p>\n Related More than a decade ago, the then Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce warned about the risk of \u201cgold-plating\u201d a new airport in Sydney\u2019s outer west and creating a \u201cTaj Mahal\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the years since the airport rose out of flattened paddocks, Holm insists it \u201cis not a Taj Mahal\u201d but a \u201cvery sensible built-form outcome\u201d that will serve the people of western Sydney long into the future.<\/p>\n \u201cIn many respects, it\u2019s actually beyond our expectations. When you conceive of a design … there\u2019s also the pragmatics, and they can be a difficult road to negotiate. From a designer\u2019s point of view \u2026 it is a western Sydney outcome, and the functional flow appears to work.\u201d<\/p>\n With the terminal complete and the first passenger planes about to touch down, it will now be up to the first arrivals to judge for themselves the past decade\u2019s work.<\/p>\n![\"COX](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/899caf5aba679557ced16eb7521f393739f054fe.jpeg\")
COX Architecture principal David Holm holds a model that aided work on the terminal\u2019s concept design.Sitthixay Ditthavong<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/acfcbd4e0d0e99af9fc4cbb68428a49259854ff5.jpeg\")
The ceiling allows natural light into the terminal.Sitthixay Ditthavong![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/f3d9a44c928a1d223ad54e59687f274f365c1ab8.jpeg\")
An aerobridge at Western Sydney International Airport, which opens to passengers on Sunday.Sam Mooy<\/p>\n![\"Captain](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/8181348cd91182296da9842a963ffdc93f169ff6.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/9f9ea7bfca9c6b21df9137b0af119b7e3a2e596a.jpeg\")
A view from the top floor where international passengers will arrive.Sitthixay Ditthavong![\"Escalators](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/7eec74836bde05b09d068f835131ba1444393144.jpeg\")
Escalators and stairs link a bag-drop area to departures on the first level.Sitthixay Ditthavong<\/p>\n![\"Western](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/97a0af11714768e87318fe8e65eb04288eee701d.jpeg\")
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