Earthquake engineering keeps airport grounded

Istanbul, Turkey's new 2.15 million-sf Sabiha Gökçen International Airport opened on October 31, 2009, becoming the world's largest seismically isolated building. Arup's global airport planning and engineering team, in collaboration with architects Dogan Tekeli Sami Sisa Mimarlik Ofisi and contractor LIMAK-GMR JV, working within an 18-month timeline, designed and built the facility with 300 base isolators that allow the building to withstand an 8.0 magnitude earthquake. The team also developed special baggage handling, passenger boarding bridges, and vertical circulation components to enable prompt return to airport operations following a seismic event.