For the Czech Republic, construction of Terminal North 2 as the largest building in the entire complex of the new Prague´s Ruzyne Airport was of national and international importance.
The terminal is not just a gateway to the country but strengthens Prague´s role as an aviation hub in central Europe. The greatest challenge was the soaring roof made from girders with a 57-meter span. With an area of 28,700 square meters, the new terminal boosts the current passenger capacity to 10 million passengers annually.
Probably the most interesting piece of the whole terminal is the roof structure. It is formed by girders of 57-metre span and each piece was an original. The girders were produced off site as one whole, then divided into three parts, transported to site and welded together again. With respect to safety of work this procedure was performed with a particular care. The whole building is founded on piles of four to nine metres depth.
The load-bearing structure is formed by a pre-cast reinforced-concrete skeleton, complemented with cast-in-situ retaining walls. The cores of elevator shafts and staircases are bricked from ceramic blocks. The departure lobby glazed surfaces are supported with an auxiliary steel structure, located outside the hall, behind the glazed facade plane. This structure will ensure stability of the glazed walls and particularly it will transfer and distribute the pressures caused by a strong wind.
Project in numbers
•Building dimensions: 260 x 110 m
•Built-up area: 546,000 m3
•Total floor area: 85,000 m2
•Facade: 15,000 m2
•Roof: 30,000 m2
•Ceramic paving: 41,000 m2
•Span of the departure hall: 56 m
•Length of electric cables: 1,500 km
•Passenger check-in capacity: min. 10 mil./year
•Number of check-in desks: 66
•Number of transfer counters: 250
