Carrasco Int'l Airport Roof
The Carrasco International Airport, the largest airport in Uruguay, serves approximately three million passengers a year.
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Project Details
Society of American Registered Architects New York, Gold Medal Award of Excellence, 2013
Architizer A+ Awards, Public and Juried Vote, 2012
ACEC New York, Platinum Award in Transportation Category, 2010
The Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design, The International Architecture Award, 2010
Royal Institute of British Architects, RIBA International Awards, 2010
AIA-NY, Award of Merit, 2010
Cantilevered roof provides a welcoming gateway to Uruguay
The Carrasco International Airport, the largest airport in Uruguay, serves approximately three million passengers a year. The 484,000-square-foot, three-story terminal is a dramatic and welcoming space for passengers and visitors. The terminal modernizes and expands the passenger and cargo handling capacity of the existing facilities to promote tourism and commercial growth in the region.
We provided structural design services to Rafael Viñoly Architects for the terminal’s 1,200-meter curved steel roof.
Highlights
- The roof maintains a low profile on the landscape, helping its structure integrate with the surroundings. The unique roof extends beyond the building on all four sides, with an irregular plan profile varying in width from 415 feet to 165 feet.
- The steel-truss roof has an irregular vertical profile with its two ends supported on grade, and the height of the roof varies from 85 feet to 120 feet.
- The cantilevered roof facilitates the strategic use of daylighting for the terminal building by creating shading for the interior space.
- The 60-foot-high fully glazed curtain wall system extends from the base to the roof and wraps around the terminal building, creating transparency.
- In response to the challenge of providing draining for the large roof area, two gutters, one at each cantilevered edge, run the entire length of the roof to capture rainwater run-off.