Aile Est — MISHA SMITH

Aile Est - Geneva Airport

Date

2011-under construction

Client

Genève Aéroport

Location

Geneva, Switzerland

Construction Cost

CHF 400,000,000

Total Area

52 500 m²

Involvement

I have worked on this project since 2010 when I was part of the competition-winning team and have seen it through all project stages. The last four years have been spent in Switzerland as principal site representative for RSHP following construction which is now nearing completion.

Overview

The Aile Est (East Wing) project provides six new departure gates, replacing temporary facilities that were built in the 1970’s. It represents an important upgrade in quality of service for passengers and flexibility for Geneva Airport.

Key Principles

The concept for the project was generated from a number of particularly tight constraints along with a series of key principles and ambitions:

The desire for a strong image
The quality of the passenger space with an emphasis on natural daylight
The maximising of transparency
A model for sustainability
An evolutionary building with long-term adaptability
The minimising of airfield footprint
The unification of landside and airfield campus
A modular construction
An efficient and controlled construction methodology focusing on off-site prefabrication

Arrangement

The site is 20m wide and over 500m long. The space between site and runway are limited to the point there is no space to modify stand positions: the head of stand road had to be accommodated beneath the building. The building is thus conceived as a simple extrusion suspended in the air.

To limit clutter and maximise flexibility the extrusion is supported on as few columns as possible. The structure is set out on a 20m grid with four 20m bays forming each gate. This grid is generated by the approximate 80m width of an aircraft stand.

The long-span steel structure is unusual in this context and poses particular engineering challenges while maintaining elegance.

Each 80m module is served by a ‘core’ which sits to the south of the main volume and contains services, toilets and vertical circulation.

The building is inclined towards the airfield, both in order to open up the space between the existing buildings which sit to the landside, and to provide space for the arrivals corridor at high level.

This inverts the diagram often found in airports and offers equal importance to the experience of arriving passengers who are able to enjoy the activity of the airfield at close proximity with the fantastic views of the Jura beyond.

The legibility of building components is expressed in every detail. The external steel structure exposes the way in which the structure works. The double-height triple-glazed facades minimise reliance on artificial lighting while allowing clear views through the building, also aiding with passenger orientation.

The Aile Est is connected to the existing terminal via a glazed link bridge where passengers arrive into a double height space. This ‘processor’ contains immigration and emigration halls as well as border police offices.

Departures are on level +1.0 and arrivals on the suspended level +2.0 mezzanine.

Ground Floor Plan

First Floor Plan

Second Floor Plan

Structure

I was responsible for the coordination of the superstructure which involved working closely with Ingerop, the structural engineers based in Paris as well as the specialist steel subcontractor, Martifer who built the steel frame at their factory near Viseu in Portugal and transported it to site by road. The superstructure is 7000 tonnes of steel - equivalent to the Eiffel tower.

The building is energy-positive

From the beginning of the competition the client’s goal was to build an energy-positive building. This has been achieved by means of a holistic energy strategy and detailed thermal performance analysis, combining 4000m2 of photovoltaic panels, 110 geothermal piles, high performance facades, solar shading, low energy lighting and chilled ceilings.