The new passenger terminal of the Mactan-Cebu International Airport (Philippines) is inspired by the shape of the “Bangka” canoes typical of the local cultural heritage; it is the first airport in Asia made entirely of lamellar wood by Rubner Holzbau, the company of the group specialized in large wooden buildings. The 23 meters beams made of laminated wood are intertwined to form the corrugated backbone of the barrel roof covering the 65.000m² surface of the Terminal area.
Commissioned to the award-winning architecture studio of Hong Kong IDA Architects, whose finalization is expected by 2018, the project reflects a medium-term strategy of the Philippine government which aims to achieve an inclusive, high and sustainable growth for the country by developing new infrastructure. In fact, sustainability is the key word that made the South Tyrol company got the most important laminated wood construction job order in the Group's history outside the national borders, for a value of $10 million dollars.
Mactan-Cebu is the second airport of the Philippines and the first in Asia made entirely of laminated wood: Rubner Holzbau will generally produce 4,500 cubic meters of laminated wood that will be shipped and then assembled in Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan Island, so that the new Terminal can be opened within the planned terms. Once completed, the new terminal will triple the management capacity of the airport from the current 4.5 million passengers per year to 12.5 million.
Materials and sustainability
The National Institute of Bio-architecture considers the laminated wood highly functional for an ecological and sustainable architecture, for its production technique, environmental sustainability and eco-compatibility: in fact, it provides higher structural strength than the same amount of solid wood and uses production techniques that favor autochthon species coming from forests managed in a sustainable and certified way.
In particular, the lamellar wood proposed by Rubner Holzbau is pasted with a new type of melamine-based adhesive that contains an amount of free formaldehyde so low that it does not have even to be declared, by law, nor in the technical data sheet, nor in the safety data sheet of the product. The emission is in fact 10 times lower than the air we breathe every day and even 20 times lower than the limit set by the European regulations for the “low emission” products (being 0.124g/m³ the limit value for the products E1 class).
The lamellar beams have been chosen for their features, including the saving on some important items of expenditure between 20 and 80%, generated by the use of lighter materials and faster building and assembling times.
Credits*
Purchaser: GMR Megawide Cebu Airport Corporation (GMCAC)
Construction time: 11/2016 – 03/2017 (wooden construction) – 2018 commissioning
End of works foreseen within: June 2018
Surface: 65.000 m²
Lamellar wood: 4.500 m³
Architect / Designer: IDA Architects, Hongkong
Budget: $10 million
Photo credit ©IDA Architects
