Project : Edmonton International Airport's New Office and Control tower
Localisation : Edmonton, AB (Canada)
Size : 8,410 sq.m / 90,525 sq. ft
Tonnage : 1400 tons of structural steel and steel frames to support the zinc cladding
Costs : $70 Million
Completed : 2013
Builder : EllisDon
Steel Fabricator : Supreme Group
Client : Edmonton Regional Airport Authority

Edmonton International Airport gets new traffic control tower

STEPHEN DAFOE

correspondent

EDMONTON

A new 107,000-square-foot control and office tower (COT) will soon rise above the tarmac as part of Edmonton International Airport’s $1 billion expansion project.

Cohos Evamy integratedesign Architecture and EllisDon Corporation are involved in the design and construction of the new NAV CANADA control tower and office building, portions of which are scheduled to be completed in 2011 and 2012.

Although the building will provide the airport with conventional elements including an expanded retail area, seven floors of office space and a new air traffic control cab, the building’s design is far from conventional.

Stephen Boyd, design architect with Cohos Evamy integratedesign said his firm had been challenged with designing an iconic structure, not only for the airport itself, but for the City of Edmonton as well.

“It was an interesting challenge that was laid down,” he said, adding that his office did an exhaustive study of what it means to be from Edmonton and what type of design aesthetic would be unique to Edmonton, taking on the suggestions of those inside and outside the company, both newcomers to the city and long-time residents alike. “It became apparent that a lot of people’s impressions of place are tied a lot with the landscape and the climate, of all things.”

Boyd explained that the design team was inspired by how the landscape is formed by the seasons.

“We looked at the unimpeded winds of the prairies and the way that they actually blow and actually sculpt our landscape,” he said, adding that snow drifts, wheat fields, soil erosion and even the movements of a flag in the wind played a role in the design.

“So we really started playing with this whole notion of this sort of sculpting effect of wind.”

The design of the new Edmonton airport control tower is inspired by peoples impressions of lanscape and climate.

The end result was an exterior design that consists of a number of ribbons that have the appearance of a series of snow drifts. But there was more to the design elements than purely aesthetics.

“If you look at the ribbons, they actually project further on the south and the west so that the sun angle gets cut off for the intense summer sun, and it shades the windows,” Boyd said, adding that the reverse was applied to the north side if the building.

“Winter sun is a much lower angle and not as intense in heat radiation. We would want the sun to penetrate the plate as deep as possible. The overhangs, of course, allow the sun to penetrate deep because they don’t block it.”

The design architect said the building’s orientation was also chosen for sustainability concerns. Although the master planning documents situated the COT essentially where it will be constructed, the plan called for a building that ran more parallel with the main building, something that would have had the building’s large face running east and west and the narrow ends north and south.

“So we turned it 90 degrees,” Boyd said. “That was one of the first moves we made, really, regarding the sustainable moves. Plus it did another thing – it took the air traffic control tower and swung it out, sort of as an element at the end, so it had optimal viewing angles for not only the gates, but out to the runways.”

Although the orientation was chosen for sustainability reasons, it may not give them specific points toward the LEED Silver status the project is striving for. However, the design does call for other green concepts. Boyd said that they reduced the overall window-to-wall ratio to 40 per cent.

“Sixty per cent of the building’s face is actual wall, which is obviously a much better thermal barrier than the floor to ceiling glass that you would typically find on an office building,” he said.

Internally, the building will make use of under-floor air distribution rather than the conventional ceiling mounted systems found in many office buildings.

“It’s not a lot different than people’s homes in many regards, where air is blowing from below the floor,” Boyd said. “What it does is it allows for maximum flexibility to the floor plate, reduced airflow volumes, so you don’t need to blow the air quite as hard into the space. So it’s a much more comfortable space.”