Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport

Inspired by the “Crescent City” and flow of the Mississippi River, a challenging but iconic curved design was conceived by Pelli Clarkk & Partners and a joint venture between LEO DAILY and Atkins. It’s massive curved curtain wall, T-shaped spherical roof, wide open interior space, and hurricane-prone location required an entirely unique structure.

A hybrid of structural steel beams and a radial grid of concrete columns was conceived due to the roof‘s spherical design. Each connection between beam and column required a unique design due to the curvilinear aspect of the design.

Amid increased travel to New Orleans and initial budgetary concerns, the airport expanded significantly during construction after owners realized passenger growth was increasing faster than anticipated. Even though 30% of the foundation was in place, the scope expanded with a new international concourse, five additional gates, and 322,000 more square feet.

Leveraging our proprietary digital workflow and modeling process ConnecTID^®, we combined building skin, roof, and structure into one collaborative model. The model empowered a rigorous analysis to simulate the impact of hurricane-force winds as well as identify and design all enclosure and connection details in advance.

The multidisciplinary team of engineers preserved the architect‘s design intent and enabled close collaboration between all stakeholders, giving a clear understanding of options from a visual, material, cost, and quantity perspective. The terminal‘s distinctive architecture was achievable even as the scope of work changed during design and construction.

Few than five requests for information were required related to building geometry during the construction phase, versus the hundreds if not thousands that typically slow down a project of this scale. Our process allowed the team to quickly adapt even as the substantial public project changed multiple times during design and construction.

Due to our precise digital modeling, bids for the project’s projected 11,000 tons of steel came in $800,000 lower than anticipated, giving money back to the bottom line. Even though the project was initially scaled back due to budget concerns, it would later expand significantly. Even with 30% of the terminal’s foundation in place, we proved cost certainty by identifying all enclosure components and connection details in advance.