Kuala Lumpur International Airport lies in Sepang, south of the Malaysian capital, opened in 1998 to a design by the Japanese architect Kisho Kurokawa built around the idea of an airport within a rainforest and a rainforest within an airport. Its main terminal uses geometric forms drawing on both Islamic architectural tradition and modern engineering, admitting extensive natural light through its roof structure. The airport's separate satellite terminal, linked to the main building by an automated aerotrain, contains an enclosed tropical rainforest garden planted with species native to the Malaysian jungle, along with a jungle boardwalk that its operators describe as the first of its kind at any airport. The design was intended to distinguish the airport from more conventional international terminals by foregrounding Malaysia's tropical landscape as part of the passenger experience rather than treating it as incidental.
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