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Our design for this new terminal uses 300 isolators to reduce lateral earthquake loads by 80%, enabling it to withstand an earthquake of 7.5-8.0 on the Richter scale. This makes the building, at over 40,000m2 on plan, the largest seismically isolated structure built to date.
Exhaustive testing
The terminal's location means these measures are essential - Istanbul experiences large earthquakes because of its position close to the North Anatolian Fault, which runs for 1,500km between the African and Eurasian tectonic plates. To ensure the building would withstand such an earthquake, our team of seismic experts tested the design in 14 different earthquake scenarios. The amount of movement the building could withstand surpassed even our expectations.
International collaboration
The success was due to engineers from our Istanbul and Los Angeles offices, who worked together to design and deliver the project in just 18 months – record time for a project of such scale and ambition.
As well as structural, seismic and infrastructural engineering design services, we also provided airport planning consultancy for the project. This covered airfield ground lighting, high mast lighting, a visual docking guidance system, aircraft fuel hydrants and baggage handling systems.
