Offering a seamless travel experience for the 44.3 million annual passengers of Orlando International Airport, the new Intermodal Terminal Facility (ITF) opened to Thanksgiving travelers in 2017. This completed the first phase of the South Airport Complex’s construction plan, which will continue through 2020. The ITF also is expected to be the first building on the Orlando International Airport campus to meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED v4 certification standards.
Featuring an 8,000-square-foot, heavy-duty commercial skylight, the ITF’s daylighting system helps connect those arriving and working within the space to the welcoming surroundings and Florida sunshine outside. Acurlite Structural Skylights, Inc. manufactured and installed the low-rise, segmented barrel vault skylight. Linetec provided stretch forming, thermally improvement and finishing of the skylight to meet the airport’s aesthetic, sustainability and high-performance requirements.
Performance-Driven Design
“Although the aesthetics are certainly important, the skylight specifications are more performance-driven than aesthetic,” acknowledges HKS Inc.’s associate principal, project manager, David Thomas, AIA. “Firstly, we didn’t want it to leak and the skylight system needed to meet Florida product approval. The finish also needed to be able to withstand the harsh Florida climate and local airport conditions.”
The ITF’s skylight system exceeds industry standards for air, water and structural stability. Acurlite tested and fabricated the system with a 30-year life cycle theory for longevity of product and overall system performance.
Spanning 40.5 feet wide by 197.5 feet long, Acurlite’s skylight was fully shop-fabricated and shop-assembled for on-site unitization and installation on the ITF. Hundreds of aluminum-framed segments compose the total skylight system.
Linetec finished each aluminum framing member in a Bright Silver color using Valspar Fluropon Classic II 70 percent PVDF Architectural Extrusion Coating Systems. Valspar’s two-coat, 70 percent PVDF resin-based finishes applied by Linetec meet or exceed the American Architectural Manufacturers Association’s high-performance exterior specification, AAMA 2605.
Among the most weather-resistant of all finishes, paint coatings that meet AAMA 2605’s exterior, architectural specification comply with rigorous testing that involves withstanding more than 4,000 hours of salt spray and humidity. These coatings also must maintain film integrity, color retention, chalk resistance, gloss retention and erosion resistance properties for a minimum of 10 years on the South Florida testing site.
