New Doha International Airport - Consolidated Rental Car Facility
Doha, Qatar
5,000 GSM
Under Construction
Project with HOK
Overview
The New Doha International Airport planning authority anticipated a rapid increase to its rental car market and expected more than millions of passengers will use rental cars as their means of transportation. Therefore, the development of a new Consolidated Rental Car Facility (CRCF) has gained a lot of popularity and necessity. The facility location is carefully evaluated and situated at the southern part of the terminal, which is just off the major ramp to the main terminal so that is still in a close proximity of the main terminal and passengers can be easily transported to here by shuttle buses within minutes. The facility is composed by four major components; Customer Service Building, Employee Service Buildings, Vehicle Maintenance Building, and a 1000-car parking lot.
Concept Design/Schematic Design/Design Development
I was working on this project since very beginning of the concept design and carried all the way through CD phrase. The design is largely driven by the extreme weather in Doha, where extreme hot and sand storm must be considered in the design of the facility. The earlier concept sketches show the design intent of an extensive roof canopy covering the entire “Ready-and-Return” parking for immediate archival and return of rental vehicles to protect both passengers and vehicles from the extreme weather in Doha. The extended canopy and roof ideas are proved to be effective and necessary.
The entire roof is based on a typical structural bay of 20M x 20M to best fit driveway and parking stalls layout. The roof is supported by a series of bow-shaped trusses with diagonal bracing to reinforce its lateral stability, and connected by the finger-like steel columns. Another interesting feature is the roof fascia condition, which is a combination of multiple curves in elevation, plan and section to form this complicated compound curve.