This fast-paced suburb is home to a rich population of aerospace professionals and was recently selected as the location for two new AAR Corp aircraft maintenance hangars. These matching structures will provide not only a lift to the airport’s functionality but to its overall aesthetic as well. The easiest way to describe these two hangars, completed in December of 2016, is to say they are enormous!
Each of these hangers was designed to serve the largest commercial and military cargo planes in existence. As such, the $40 million project consisted of two 10-story side-by-side structures with large clear spans of over 300’ by 300’. The skeleton of these remarkable structures was comprised of hot-dip galvanized steel. AZZ Galvanizing – Hamilton and AZZ Galvanizing – Joliet were recently recognized by the American Galvanizers Association for Excellence in Hot Dip Galvanizing: Building & Architecture for their work on this exciting project.
While airport structures were traditionally limited to pre-engineered steel buildings, lead project design and construction firm Rubb Building Systems wanted something that would prove durable, cost-effective, and most importantly, extremely flexible. The team knew the hangars would change the landscape of the airport, and wanted to offer Rockport International Airport a unique solution that came with every bell and whistle. The end result is impressive: buildings with ventilation windows, conventional doors, massive clear spans with no center columns, continuous translucent roofing, and a hot-dip galvanized steel truss structure. This metal and translucent skeleton provides longevity, corrosion protection, and more than enough room for the jumbo jets it houses. For this project, the consistent zinc finish of the hot-dip galvanized steel on both interior and exterior steel surfaces was both rugged and reliable.
AZZ Galvanizing – Hamilton and AZZ Galvanizing – Joliet is proud to have helped in the construction of these hangars, and look forward to seeing them used to maintain the country’s largest aircraft, including the Airbus A380 jet.
To learn more about AZZ and its processes, visit AZZ.com today!
