Macalloy Tie Rods Support Glass Façade and Tension Arch Roof at Portuguese Airport

The complicated yet innovative design, by WS Atkins, of the five central skylights in the roof of the main terminal building provided a perfect opportunity for ICQ to combine its strong engineering knowledge, with its sharp eye for innovative solutions. 

Porto airport in Portugal features five glazed skylights that are supported with a steel structure incorporating painted Macalloy tie rods. Each skylight is 40 metres long and 15 metres wide, the use of Macalloy tendons helped minimize the steelwork effect on the visual transparency and aided the architectural finish.

In addition the roof structure is a large steel arch structure which is tensioned using Macalloy tie rods. The tie bars are again painted white to match those in the glass façade.