Named Suvarnabhumi ('Golden Land'), the new airport is one of the biggest and most modern in the world and can handle as many as 76 flights per hour on its two simultaneously operating runways. The terminal serves 30 million persons a year (eventually, it will be capable of handling 45 million passengers and 3 million tons of cargo per year), and encompasses a total of 5,000,000 sf. The open plan facility includes main arrival halls and departure halls, concourses, ticketing areas, baggage claim, customs/ immigration, lounges and concessions.
WSP’s Flack + Kurtz (F+K) designed the chiller plant to provide 20,000 tons of chilled water for the new terminal and concourse building complex totaling 450,000 sqm and including 400,000 sm of air-conditioned building area. The plant is located in a remote car park structure and is connected to the terminal building by an underground utility tunnel, and distributed in the service and baggage handling levels of the project.
When designing the HVAC systems for the airport, F+K was faced with the task of mediating between Bangkok’s typical climactic conditions (77º-90º F and high level of relative humidity all year) and the airport’s demand for 24-hour working days and high internal heat loads from people, electric equipment and lighting. F+K was forced to develop a technique that would account for the environmental intangibles, while still meeting the 75.2º F room temperature requirement.
One system F+K used to satisfy such a concern was to split the airport into two zones: an unconditioned zone at higher levels, and cooled occupied zones at lower levels, thus consuming mechanical cooling energy only in those areas where necessary, drastically reducing the total cooling demand.
Overall, F+K provided full mechanical, electrical and lighting systems, as well as building automation, environmental and life safety control systems design for the main passenger terminal.