Tampa's Airside C

Project is Second New Terminal to be Design-Built at Tampa International Airport

By Scott Judy

Another new terminal at Tampa International Airport. Another new team of contractor and designer. And, so far, another design-build success story.

That's the situation as general contractor Beck and Tampa design firm Alfonso Architects lead the construction of TIA's latest new airside terminal, the 315,000-sq.-ft. Airside C. Following on the heels of the award-winning, $70 million Airside E terminal, which was completed by Skanska USA two years ago, the Beck/Alfonso team had the goal of delivering an even better - and unique - facility.

"We had the advantage of having (Airside E) already done, so we were able to learn from it," said Albert Alfonso, president of Alfonso Architects and the project's lead architect. "This one is going to stand on its own."

Ed Jenkinson, vice president and senior project manager for Beck, agreed.

"It's going to be unique out here," he said, adding it will be the first building at TIA to incorporate an all-glass curtain wall exterior. "Aesthetically this building is going to look a lot different."

Owner TIA, however, wasn't as intent on having the new facility be different from Airside E as much as it wanted it up and running as quickly as possible.

"Our expectations were to complete a building from design to construction in 18 months," said Lou Russo, TIA's senior director of planning and development. "That was what we were looking at. We thought we could do it as well as (Airside E), if not better."

Designing It

Beck and Alfonso first agreed to work together in late 2002, and then won a $3.5 million design-development contract the following February. A $71 million contract signed in August 2003 covered design completion and construction and set an April 2005 completion date. Demolition and sitework began in September, and Beck/Alfonso submitted a guaranteed maximum price contract two months after that.

Jenkinson said the project was on target. By July, the contractors were finishing the superstructure and were about to start installation of the exterior curtain wall. Interior rough-ins were getting started, and mechanical, electrical and plumbing work was well under way.

A close working relationship was necessary to move as quickly as necessary. In fact, during the first six months of their effort together, Jenkinson and other Beck staffers actually worked from Alfonso's offices.

Alfonso and Beck chose a curvilinear layout to accommodate the terminal's 16 gates within the building footprint. Airside C will be TIA's largest airside to date and will provide 10 dedicated gates to Southwest Airlines, two to Spirit and others that will do double-duty as swing gates for both airlines and charter flights. The terminal also will include eight security stations for TSA passenger screening, with capacity for two more.

The roof gradually curves from a height of roughly 15 ft. at both ends to 30 ft. high at its peak. This curvilinear aspect helped Alfonso in his quest to evoke a sense of aviation's romantic history with his Airside C design. He mentioned Eero Saarinen's iconic TWA terminal at New York's Kennedy Airport as an inspiration.

"We tried to do a project that brought back the enjoyment of the flying experience, which has been sort of lacking of late," he said. "We tried to create a piece of architecture that harkened back to that era of the early 1960s when it was a real adventure to go on an airplane."

The curtain-wall exterior is intended to further heighten the sense of adventure and connection to the outside by providing expansive views of the planes and surrounding airport.

"We tried to make the roof plane - which sort of has this long curving arch - as simple and as uncluttered as possible," Alfonso said. "It's like you have this floating wing that floats over the building."

Inside, the ceiling will be a solid, smooth, white surface. From outside, the roof will "float" by Alfonso's use of a semitransparent green glass for the curtain wall that visually "disengages the roof plane from the floor plane."

Other Differences

The new terminal also differed from its predecessor in other ways. Because it was designed post-Sept. 11, the architect could better accommodate security issues, such as the location of passenger screening. Also, the terminal's entry area from the passenger tram was brought into the building at a lower angle - to eliminate any incline, as found at E, and thereby improve wheelchair accessibility.

More challenging, though, was the coordination with Skanska USA's ongoing $120 million security and baggage screening project, which ties into Airside C's lower level. Skanska USA is scheduled to start erecting the baggage system in October and conclude in time for Airside C's opening.

Jenkinson said Skanska has been cooperative throughout the course of the project.

"They gave us all of their baggage shop drawings, and we coordinated all of our mechanical, electrical and ductwork around it," he added.

Like Airside E, Beck has to deal with other GCs, such as Bombardier and its people-mover work, as well as John Carlo Inc., which is building the apron and fuel system surrounding the new terminal, starting at just 30 ft. from the new structure.

Additionally, the airport plans to shutter the old, neighboring Airside D within 30 to 60 days of Airside C's completion, which adds to the coordination workload.

"This is a more difficult project than Airside E," Russo said. "There's a lot more coordination involved with building this facility and relocating everybody out of D."

Building It

One advantage the Beck/Alfonso team had was in the group of subcontractors it signed up for the job. The vast majority had worked on Airside E and knew the owner's expectations.

"The only people who are different from E, design-team-wise, are Beck and Alfonso," Jenkinson said. "The electrical, mechanical, sprinkler contractors - they're all from E. So they know what the airport's expecting." For those reasons, Beck and Alfonso brought numerous subs and suppliers in early to assist with design.

"We got a lot of manufacturers and subcontractors involved with our decision-making process - which was very helpful for establishing schedules and budgets early on," Jenkinson said.

The schedule for building this mostly concrete building was impacted slightly due to the current concrete shortage. Concrete deck work started in January and had been scheduled to wrap by June, but it was pushed a few weeks past that.

"Luckily we were past our critical-path points," Jenkinson said. "If (the shortage) would've happened three months earlier, then it really would have affected our critical path and sequencing. We were used to getting 400-500 yds. a day, then all of a sudden it was 200 yds. maximum." Pours shrank from an expected 10,000 sq. ft. per day to half that.

S.B. Ballard of Virginia Beach, Va., was the main concrete contractor, but it subbed the formwork and pan slabs to Southern Pan Services Co. of Lithonia, Ga. United Forming of Orlando placed the 220 spread-footing foundations and poured the first lift of columns. RMC/Ewell was the concrete supplier.

The roof is built of structural steel, supplied by SteelFab of Norcross, Ga., and erected by Williams Erectors, Atlanta.

Curtain wall work began in early July. Harmon Inc. of Tampa is supplying the system in unidized panels that are preassembled in its Orlando facility and hauled to the site and erected daily. The contractor plans an 18-week erection schedule.

Design-Build Results

The essence of design-build is collaboration, and that's been prevalent at Airside C.

"Usually a contractor and an architect are sort of pitted against each other," Alfonso said. "Beck is very respectful of the concept of the design. So they're always very hesitant to go after things without us buying into it. So there's a true partnership with how we work with Beck. That's how a true design-build should work."

John Allen, director of construction management for TIA, said the airport was pleased with the results to date.

"We're happy with the quality of the buildings and with the management team they have out here - and the way they operate as a team," he added. "They're a true design-build team, and that's been nice. Overall, so far, it's a very easy job for us."

USEFUL SOURCES:

For information and photos of the project:
http://www.tampaairport.com/news_events/projects/airside_c.html#photos