Metal Cladding Tiles Helps Airport Design Take Flight
Loading docks generally aren’t known for their stylishness, but a new such structure at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is breaking with that tradition. The addition of glass curtainwall and a protective overhang clad in copper-toned metal tiles create a real visual pop in the middle of the airport’s runway area.
This loading dock was designed to solve logistics and security problems common to many major airports. Often, delivery trucks serving airport concessions and operations arrive using the same roads as passengers. Loading docks might be located within terminal structures and, in some cases, trucks might simply park alongside service doors while they’re unloading. This arrangement can create traffic backups, and it also raises obvious safety concerns if those docks are located behind security checkpoints. This new consolidated loading dock is in an isolated building between the airport’s runways that is accessed via a new roadway and tunnel.