Projects / Farnborough Airport Hangars

Client

TAG Farnborough

Project description

We won an international design competition to create ‘Europe’s premier Business Aviation facility’ for the newly created TAG Aviation. Drawing upon a reputation for high-quality performance (through association with McLaren Racing) and design (Techniques Avant Garde), the client was explicit about the quality of design for the new facility which would not only provide a terminal and associated operational and maintenance buildings, but also become their headquarters building. TAG Aviation’s clear vision for the future presented us with an inspirational challenge: to develop an architecture that captures the romance, technology and excitement of flight. We set out to create a theatre of aviation, with aircraft as the actors. Careful planning, innovative building and engineering techniques from our partners Buro Happold and the use of a family of materials, produce a coherent, well integrated airport from three functionally diverse buildings of vastly different scales. The building was awarded an RIBA Award in 2006.

Innovations & added value

The maintenance and hangar facilities are column free, utilising an innovative design, created in tandem with the structural engineers, Buro Happold. By adopting a tied arch below ground-level, the internal spaces remain unencumbered by structure, maximising useable space to accommodate growth in aircraft to be stored and serviced. The rolling elevation of the roofline responds to the low-lying location of the airport and works with the landscape bunds and surrounding Hampshire hills. The hangars were awarded a Structural Steel Design Award in 2003 and a LEAF Award in 2004. A further set of hangars was added in 2012.

Engineering consultancy

Buro Happold

Status

Completed