Air Force training school uses metal to reflect aviation design
by Jonathan McGaha | February 28, 2009 12:00 am
Located an hour west of Winnipeg, the 92,573- square-foot (8,600-m2) Edifice Hilly Brown building in Southport, Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, Canada, is the Canadian Armed Forces central training school for small plane and helicopter pilots. Built for Allied Wings, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada,a private sector consortium that has a 20-year,
$1.8 billion contract to provide training services to the Air Force, the facility was designed to the program and specifications of the Department of National Defense.
The facility is located adjacent to runways and hangars and houses
$75 million in computerized equipment, including full-motion and fixed-flight simulators. The program includes simulator rooms, classrooms and lecture rooms, briefing rooms, a library, study rooms, lounges, offices, a weight room, medical suite and counseling rooms.
The exterior is clad in 27,985 square feet (2,600 m2) of White, Silver and Black corrugated steel siding by Roll Form Group, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. ALPOLIC, Chesapeake, Va., supplied composite aluminum panels for the corners, accents and entry canopy. Kawneer, Norcross, Ga., supplied 2,840 square feet (264 m2) of aluminum curtainwall and entrances, along with 7,275 square feet (676 m2) of Isotherm aluminum windows. Relieved by areas of black siding, the outer perimeter of the building is finished in a silver and white checkerboard- which follows the divisions of the interior and structure while echoing typical airfield markings and navigational flags. On sunny days the pattern appears and disappears as one moves around the building, with the building becoming alternatively white or patterned.
Areas of color are used to animate the interior, which features polished concrete floors and black metal siding on the lobby walls. An antique helicopter is suspended in the three-story lobby.
Daniel Johnson Architect Inc. and Garth Norbraten Architect Inc. Architects in Association, Toronto, was the architect; Akman Construction, Winnipeg, was the construction manager; Shopost Iron Works, Winnipeg, was the steel fabricator; Halcrow Yolles, Toronto, was the structural engineer; SMS Engineering Ltd., Winnipeg, was the mechanical and electrical engineer; Earthtech Canada Inc., Winnipeg, was the civil engineer; and Eng-Tech Consulting Engineers, Winnipeg, was the geotechnical engineers.
ALPOLIC
Kawneer
Roll Form Group
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/projects/air-force-training-school-uses-metal-to-reflect-aviation-design/