Airport Business

DEC 2015-JAN 2016

The airport professional's source for airport industry news, articles, events, and careers.

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COVER STORY 14 airportbusiness December 2015/January 2016 gave more of a view of the airfield. By pushing the cab off center on the concrete core, you gain more access of the gates and positions down below the tower." SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL The old tower also no longer addressed seis- mic design requirements, states Fentress. The government has significantly upgraded seis- mic standards for new construction since the Loma Prieta earthquake, when a magnitude 6.9 earthquake severely shook the San Francisco and Monterey Bay regions. The new tower will withstand and continue to operate in a magni- tude 8.0 earthquake, according to Yakel. Designers met seismic requirements by making sure the tower, which rises up through the middle of the airport's Integrated Facility Building, is completely separate from this 44,000-square-foot structure. "If the tower stands independent of this building, it will not damage it if it moves," says Costanzo. "This was challenging from a design perspective. We did models of the structure to make sure everything worked, and they put special buckling resistant beams on the building." The resulting air traffic control tower uses a vertical post tension concrete structure design, making it the tallest vertical, self-centering post tension concrete structure in the United States. Typically this type of design is used in parking garages where the parking decks are post ten- sioned. This design employs tension cables in the walls of the cylinder cab which allow it to bend and move during a seismic event "then swing right back to where it was at the end of the seismic event," says Fentress. Paul Kim, architect for HNTB, the airport master architecture firm and project manager for the tower project, says the design includes two mass dampeners, of approximately 37,000 pounds each, at the upper levels of the control tower. The mass dampers help offset swaying motion in a seismic event or high winds, helping to "stabilize the tower at the top and avoid any kind of motion sickness for the air traffic control- lers working inside the tower," according to Kim. MAKE IT ELEGANT Airport officials request for a design that har- monized with existing architectural structures led to the selection of a unique, torch-shaped building that flares at the top. "We started look- SFO AIRPORT DIRECTOR JOHN L. MARTIN TO RETIRE SAN FRANCISCO International Airport (SFO) Director John L. Martin has announced that after 20 years leading the nation's 7th busiest airport, he will retire in summer 2016. A search for SFO's next airport director will be conducted in coming months. Martin will continue in his current role for the foreseeable future, and he will guide the transition to new leadership at SFO. Martin was first appointed airport director in 1995 by then-San Francisco Mayor Frank Jordan and served as SFO's chief executive under Mayors Willie Brown, Gavin Newsom and current San Francisco Mayor Edwin M. Lee. Prior to his appointment as director, Martin served as SFO's deputy airport director for Business and Finance. In all, he spent 35 years at the airport. Being a part of iconic construction project such as the new air traffic control tower is nothing new to Martin. During his early years, Martin oversaw the completion of a $3.5 billion capital plan that included construction of the international terminal, a BART extension to the airport, new parking garages, and the Air Train people mover system. Some key accomplishments at SFO under Martin's direction include: f Opening the first LEED Gold terminal in the world in 2011—Terminal 2. f Operating the first in-line security baggage screening system in the world ; which is now the industry standard. f Instituting fair and living wages for all service and security providers at SFO , beginning in 1999. The current wage standard is $13.52 per hour. f Requiring that all door-to-door vans , shuttles and many commercial buses serving the airport use green fuels. f Reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 34 percent from 1990 emission levels. f Creating a culture of health and wellness among all employees , leading to SFO being named one of the healthiest places to work by the San Francisco Business Times.

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