Roll-Out
The curved surfaces of Detroit's airport terminal are sheathed in stainless
Nickel magazine, Sep. 00 -- By late 2001, the Detroit Metro Airport in Wayne County, Michigan,
U.S.A., in partnership with developer and primary tenant Northwest Airlines, will have completed construction
of the 185,760 square-metre Midfield Terminal Building. The new facility will increase the number of gates to
176 from the current 77 and add 11,000 parking spaces.
The US$1.2-billion project is a complex of structures situated southwest of the existing facilities. These
include the ticket terminal, connecting link and the 1.6-kilometre-long East Concourse, which form the base,
neck and top of an exaggerated "T" and the West Concourse, about 220 meters long, which is a separate
structure facing the East Concourse.
The roofs of all these structures have convex and concave curves, and will be covered with about 73,000 square metres of 0.64-millimetre-thick S30400 stainless steel, which contains 8 to 10.5 percent nickel. Applied in 40-centimetre-wide sheets up to 180 metres long without a seam, the S30400 effectively hugs the structures' curved shapes, according to the Detroit architectural firm Smith Group Inc.
Stainless also offers a low life-cycle cost and exceptional durability. Compared with a painted metal roof, which could require repainting after 20 to 25 years, stainless lasts indefinitely. Compared with aluminum, stainless has a low coefficient of thermal expansion, resulting in just a few centimetres of expansion at each end of the sheets and a minimum of expansion joints.
The sheets are being laid out over a substrate consisting of a composite metal roof deck, thermal barrier, insulation and an under-layer that allows moisture to escape. The edges of the sheets are joined with a standing seam, part of a Bemo roof system. The roof enclosure will be completed by the fall of 2000.
The sheets have been embossed with an Architex metal finish by J & L Specialty Steel Inc. This dull silver-grey finish, which was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration for use in the Ronald Regan Airport in Washington, D.C., is non-glare and thus not distracting for air traffic controllers or pilots.
Photo: Smith Group Inc.
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