Charles De Gaulle Airport Analysis
Introduction
The Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport, the largest airport in Paris and the second busiest in Europe, consists of terminals 2A, B, C, D, E & F as shown in figure 1 below. The terminal building was conceived by architect Paul Andreu. The building, a showpiece of contemporary French architecture, has a very elegant design which resembles a glazed tunnel. It has been partially put into service on 25 June 2003.
Aeroports de Paris Ingenierie (ADPi) is an architectural & engineering firm who provided planning and design services of the CDG Airport.
The ADPi is a subsidiary of public establishment
Aeroports de Paris (ADP).
Figure 1: CDG - Terminals 2 A, B, C, D, (top right),
2 E (bottom left), and 2F(bottom right)
Image Source: http://ardent.mit.edu/ …show more content…
A New Building: How it failed?
2.1. What happened?
On Sunday, 23 May 2004, around 7:00 am six modules of ready built concrete and external metal structure of the roof structure of boarding area have collapsed leading to the crumple of the glass structure and the three footbridges, joining the boarding area with the central area of the terminal, to the North and one footbridge used to board the plane to the South side of the terminal. Around 30m of the structure was collapsed out of total 650m length. The accident left behind 4 persons dead and injured many. The toll would have even more had secured personal not evacuated the area after seeing the cracks. Minutes before the collapse, several passengers had heard cracking sounds and noticed a collection of concrete dust coming from the roof.
Below are few images which help to understand the failure situation:
Figure 3: CDG Terminals 2E (top) and 2F (bottom)
Image Source:
The Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport, the largest airport in Paris and the second busiest in Europe, consists of terminals 2A, B, C, D, E & F as shown in figure 1 below. The terminal building was conceived by architect Paul Andreu. The building, a showpiece of contemporary French architecture, has a very elegant design which resembles a glazed tunnel. It has been partially put into service on 25 June 2003.
Aeroports de Paris Ingenierie (ADPi) is an architectural & engineering firm who provided planning and design services of the CDG Airport.
The ADPi is a subsidiary of public establishment
Aeroports de Paris (ADP).
Figure 1: CDG - Terminals 2 A, B, C, D, (top right),
2 E (bottom left), and 2F(bottom right)
Image Source: http://ardent.mit.edu/ …show more content…
A New Building: How it failed?
2.1. What happened?
On Sunday, 23 May 2004, around 7:00 am six modules of ready built concrete and external metal structure of the roof structure of boarding area have collapsed leading to the crumple of the glass structure and the three footbridges, joining the boarding area with the central area of the terminal, to the North and one footbridge used to board the plane to the South side of the terminal. Around 30m of the structure was collapsed out of total 650m length. The accident left behind 4 persons dead and injured many. The toll would have even more had secured personal not evacuated the area after seeing the cracks. Minutes before the collapse, several passengers had heard cracking sounds and noticed a collection of concrete dust coming from the roof.
Below are few images which help to understand the failure situation:
Figure 3: CDG Terminals 2E (top) and 2F (bottom)
Image Source: