Farnborough Airport, Hampshire

Comar Architectural Aluminium Systems and their approved fabricator, Compass Glass Limited, supplied aluminium profiles for the 4,000m Terminal at Farnborough – Britain’s most modern business airport, new Operations and Administrative Centre. It is the final building in the comprehensive airport masterplan which also features the award-winning hangars and a landmark air traffic control tower. The entire brief was envisaged by Reid Architecture whose portfolio includes other award-winning designs for such key airports as Heathrow, Stansted, Gatwick, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The Terminal impresses with the boldness of its design. The inspired wing-shaped asymmetrical edifice features the clean-cut minimalist lines of an aircraft, whilst the lustrous “scales” of the light metal skin, achieved with the perforated aluminium sheet, give the building the sleek, cutting edge appearance.

The elegant and modern looking fenestration contributes to the building’s unconventional style, but also underpin the Terminal’s function. The sheer curtain walling of the side elevations and the rows of tilted glazing along the facade allow the required amount of daylight into the conferencing and administrative offices. Also, the fenestration opens onto the surrounding airport grounds with the hillside turning the Terminal into an excellent observation platform. This feature becomes imperative, especially during the historic International Air Shows and International Trade Shows which take place at Farnborough every year. Compass Glass installed Comar 6 curtain walling and Comar 7 doors over a four week period. Comar 6 is a versatile 50mm thermally efficient system designed to of different widths, opening vents and Comar 6 makes it ideal for complex facetted curtain walls as well as sheer glazed facades.

In the Terminal, Comar 6 spans the first and second floors incorporating three metre high panes of 6mm toughened glass. Rows of smaller etched glass panes create a feature on the otherwise seamless facades. All aluminium profiles were polyester powder coated to standard Grey RAL.

The glazing embraces the entire ground floor with the Terminal’s customer lounges incorporating integrated Comar 7 curved auto sliding doors, which were also polyester powder coated to standard Grey RAL. Because all Comar profiles are integrated, the slim 50mm sight lines are standardised throughout the envelope, thus contributing to the Terminal’s elegant and minimalist appearance.