Tampa International Airport – Airside E
“Controlled freedom” was the conceptual basis of the design as the extremely
“fixed” nature of site restrictions, Airport Authority regulations, tenant
programmatic spatial requirements and building code compliance dictated the
architecture to ‘BE’ the limits of the site in plan. The elevation/sectional
character was narrated by the LOS (line of site) cast from the control tower
to the centerline of the jetway dictating the shape of the rakish profile.
Programmatically, the first floor houses airline operation offices, the
baggage system matrix and tug drive. The second floor is public space
dedicated to airline passenger service, duty-free retail, a table-service
restaurant and a lounge bar. The third floor is Delta’s first and business
class Crown Lounge.
Airside E’s unique challenge was the client’s request for there to be no
visible structural columns within the concourse or in the
AGT arrivals lobby. The building’s height restriction and the programmatic
need to have three floors within the envelope created very wide and very low
spatial conditions that further complicated the idea of feeling spatially
open or, essentially, “free”.
The cost-effective design solution in the concourse circulation resulted in
the ceiling to be the exposed metal roof deck and tapering the I-beams
transversly to the circulation path. In the lofty arrivals lobby, an elegant
exposed kingpin truss system is connected to an exposed straightback truss
specialty glazing system. Together, these systems compliment each other in
creating an airy atmosphere of natural night and openess.