CONCEPT
The project consists of Terminal 2, which expands the airport's capacity to 7.5 million passenger/year, Parkhaus 2 (5,800 short-term parking spaces), Parkhaus 3 (4,350 long-term parking spaces), a new two-level roadway system serving the terminals, and an underground rail station for intercity trains (ICE) and local trains (S-Bahn). Terminal 2 follows the leg of the splayed "U" configuration of the existing terminal. Its low profile extends the horizontality of the existing building. Whereas the existing building is of concrete and solid, the new building is constructed of prefabricated steel and glass components on an exposed concrete substructure, creating very light and transparent walls and roof. The concept with a linear concourse and frontal gates is clear, simple and easily perceptible to the departing and arriving passengers. Routes to and from the Parkhaus 2, the elevated roadway or the ICE Station and the planes are pleasant journeys in light and comprehension, easing and facilitating passenger movement both horizontally and vertically. TECHNICAL COMPONENTS The construction concept uses prefabricated steel systems and components, which further transparency and lightness. The building consists of a structural module of 30 x 30 m steel trees supporting a continuously folded roof plate with north-facing skylights. The roof consists of panels, so-called cells, which are placed onto the folded plate with simple bolted connections and waterproof joint seals. The cells are designed to fulfill various functions such as: light transmission, weather barrier, exterior heat absorption, interior heat absorption, acoustic dampening and absorption, and smoke ventilation. This is the first step in a series of buildings, which aim to create a skin with self-adapting qualities by combining different types of cells. Then a building's roof or façade are no longer a product with constant properties but can become the technical equivalent of the biological skin. The facade is a lightweight cable-supported steel and glass structure. The insulating glass panels are held by "spiders" at their joints. Similar advanced lightweight and glass technologies are applied to the glass railings, elevators, fixed and moveable jet bridges, and glass floors and stairs. Conditioned air is supplied to the departures hall via freestanding air columns integrated into the steel trees supporting the roof. Return air is also drawn down from the ceiling zone through the air columns and routed back to the main air handling stations located below the baggage claim hall. Fan coil units recessed along the facades provide supplemental heating and cooling. Within the volume of the departures hall only the lowest 3.00 m will be heated and cooled to provide a comfort zone for the passengers. This stratification of temperature creates an economically conditioned layer at pedestrian levels and an effective thermal buffer zone to the outside at the upper levels.
The 4-track Train Station is covered by a slightly arched cable-supported, 200 m long glass roof, which projects out of the ground. At the start or end of a journey, Terminal 2 and its associated structures represent FKB, the cities of Cologne and Bonn, and the region as a modern, technological city. This is the first or last, often the deciding impression, which establishes the relationship to the place. The airport becomes a peripheral center, away from the city, increasingly important within global networks.
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