HEATHROW AIRPORT
London | United Kingdom
YEAR
2012
STATUS
Completed
TYPE
Transportation
SERVICE
Tensile Structures | ETFE Technology
FINAL CLIENT
HETCO
CLIENT
Taiyo Europe Gmbh
ARCHITECT
Foster + Partners
ENGINEER
Maffeis Engineering SpA
MATERIALS
PTFE | ETFE | Steel
SURFACE
80,000 m2
Heathrow Airport is a sequence of crisp and uncluttered spaces set under an undulating shaped roof that guides the passengers through three zones: check in, security and departures. Therefore function and shape are deeply integrated allowing passengers to easily orientate themselves in an intuitive way.
The inner membrane ceiling is used to cover the main primary steel structure and the steel trapezoid profile roof from underneath. The smooth curved surface is realized with membrane ATEX 3000 TRL perforated silicon coated glass fiber fabric produced in the UK.
This fabric is used from architectural point of view with an optical advantage of high light transmission (about 40%) and with optimal acoustic properties. For the single layer ETFE foil under the windows in an inclined position it has been used an opalescent white ETFE 200µm with about 42% light transmission.