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12 TheStructuralEngineer
October 2015
Surface, snow and light: design of
the new Pulkovo Terminal 2 roof
Shonn Mills, Director, Ramboll, London, UK
Kevin Hares, Senior Engineer, Ramboll, London, UK
Chris Crombie, Associate Principal, Grimshaw Architects, London, UK
Introduction
Pulkovo Airport serves St. Petersburg, an
important cultural and historical centre and
Russia’s second-largest city. The airport is
Russia’s fourth largest and its elegant new
international terminal (Figure 1) provides a
critical gateway into the country.
The historic main domestic terminal,
Pulkovo 1, was completed in 1973 by
architect Alexander Zhuk and is considered
an iconic building in St. Petersburg’s
architectural legacy. In 2008 the city held
an international design competition for the
airport’s new master plan, including the
provision of additional terminal facilities –
Terminal 2 (approx. 100 000m2) – capable
of accommodating ever-increasing growth
in projected passenger numbers.
In parallel with the competition, the city
launched a public–private partnership
(PPP) development programme to expand
and reconstruct the airport, which was
one of the first of its kind for a large
aviation project in Russia. The Northern
Capital Gateway (NCG) consortium was
awarded the 30-year concession. NCG
appointed Ramboll as lead consultant in
 Figure 1
Pulkovo Airport Terminal 2, St.
Petersburg, Russia
TSE46_12-19 Project Focus v1.indd 12
Project Focus
Pulkovo Airport
collaboration with Grimshaw and Pascall
+ Watson Architects. The teams at NCG
and Ramboll didn’t delay initiating Phase
1 of the reconstruction project given the
main terminal building had to be complete
and open by 1 January 2014, with all works
being completed by 2016, while keeping the
existing Pulkovo Airport fully functioning
throughout.
When we started to design the
competition entry for the new international
terminal we asked ourselves: “Why is it that
when you arrive at most airports around the
globe you feel like you could be anywhere in
the world?”
We wanted things to be different with
our design for St. Petersburg. We wanted
to represent the uniqueness of the city
– its setting by the river Neva, the rich
cultural heritage and its Arctic climate –
in our designs. Arrival at Pulkovo should
feel like arriving in the city. In order to
do this without resorting to pastiche
or compromising the functional and
operational requirements of a modern
airport, we started to look at the city’s
climate and how a response to the
environment could influence our design.
This article will discuss the aesthetic
design ambitions behind the competition-
winning Grimshaw scheme and how,
through close collaboration within the
international design team, traditional and
advanced modelling techniques were
combined with innovative structural
solutions to deliver this striking airport
terminal.
Terminal 2
The new terminal was planned with an
increasing hierarchy of space occupation
up the building, which is a common
approach in modern terminal design. The
base of the building is populated with
back-of-house support facilities and plant.
Level 01 houses the baggage reclaims
and baggage-handling facilities. Arriving
passengers are welcomed into level 02
with a more expansive space arrangement
and a series of bridges over the reclaims
and further voids, allowing glimpses
of departing passengers and the roof
structure above. At level 03 the departing
passengers experience spaces that are
24/09/2015 10:59

ever more expansive and light, opening up
over the check-in and security area with
the increased roof column grid. Passenger
flow through the terminal is in line with the
building form and lighting strategy, with the
departure and arrival gate arrangement at
the west, a two-level forecourt to the east
and a linear route between the two.
The fire strategy and plant room
arrangement were developed to facilitate
the architectural intent to have escape
cores and risers flanking only the sides of
the building, keeping the central portion of
the building clear. The fire regulations in
Russia are extremely prescriptive and in
some cases contradict many aspects of
modern airport planning, but the goal was
to design a terminal building that provided
an excellent international experience while
meeting Russian norms.
The fire strategy was developed from
performance-based concepts using the
principles of the Russian fire laws for the
project-specific technical specifications,
which detailed the technical analysis
required including computational fluid
dynamics modelling. This was used to
satisfy the local regulators that, while it did
not comply with the specifics of the Russian
codes, it would provide an equivalent, and
in many cases higher, level of safety for
YURI MOLODKOVETS
passengers, as well as enabling easier fire-
management practices and providing better
business continuity.
Services plant was housed in a 6m
TSE46_12-19 Project Focus v1.indd 13
deep basement forming a horseshoe
profile around the perimeter of the
building, locating the plant around vertical
distribution and incoming utilities. This
basement had to be excavated through the
Quaternary deposits and into the Cambrian
clay, so the design had to both control
groundwater during excavation and mitigate
short- and long-term heave. Bearing piles
were designed to allow the partial top-down
construction of the terminal, with the roof
supported by mono-piles, allowing top-
down construction to commence prior to
basement excavation. Upon completion of
the basement excavation, the mono-piles
were tied into larger pile-caps to support
the bottom-up construction of the terminal
itself.
The internal superstructure frame
of the new main terminal building was
based predominately on a 9m × 9m grid,
increasing where required to 18m × 9m and
18m × 18m, rising up through the building
levels. Parallel precast and in situ concrete
band beam arrangement schemes were
developed to ensure flexibility in the early
works foundation package and to meet
the successful contractor’s construction
programme; in situ was the optimum
solution for mass and depth, with precast
offering the benefit of construction
throughout the freezing winter months.
The internal frame was split with lateral
expansion joints into six independent
internal buildings. Stability cores were
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13
provided around escape stairs and service
riser locations. With a central expansion
joint, this created a heavily asymmetric
stability core arrangement within the
independent buildings. This was balanced
by moment frames within the central
portion of the building, inherently provided
by either of the potential floor constructions
chosen by the contractor.
The showpiece of the competition-
winning scheme was the terminal’s faceted
golden roof soffit and envelope. The 162m ×
270m roof had to be seen to be supported
only by the striking concrete columns,
with no solid cores rising to the roof plane.
In between the columns, the roof was
separated into bays by the linear roof lights,
which also defined passenger flow. It was
essential that the architectural concept
for these items could not be compromised
if the project was to be a success. Here
the international design team was able to
utilise innovative design techniques with
direct and ongoing communication with the
local authorities and specialists to ensure
acceptability within the Gosexpertiza (State
Expert Authority, or building control body)
submission.
Climate
St. Petersburg is the world’s most northerly
city of over 1M inhabitants. Located at
59°57’N, it shares its latitude with Oslo in
Norway, the southern tip of Greenland and
Seward in Alaska. Climatically, the city is
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14 TheStructuralEngineer
October 2015
 Figure 2
Flat roof, sculpted soffit
 Figure 3
Drainage above columns
influenced by the cold continental tundra
of Russia to the east and moderated by
the Baltic Sea to the west. The confluence
of these two forces creates a continental
climate of short, warm, humid summers, but
long, hard, cold winters.
On average the city is covered by
snow for over 120 days per year, with
temperatures dropping to as low as –35°C
(–31°F) in January. During the winter months
there is less than six hours of sunlight per
day, with the angle of the sun not rising
above 10°. Conversely, between the months
of May and July, the temperature can rise
beyond 30°C and the city remains bright for
almost 19 hours per day, with the remaining
hours stalled in a perpetual dusk. These
months are known locally as the ‘white
nights’.
Local people have learnt to live with
this uncompromising climate and have
adapted their buildings accordingly. Their
designs are notable by their need to catch
and control daylight, deal with snow (when
frozen and melting) and provide protection
TSE46_12-19 Project Focus v1.indd 14
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Project focus
Pulkovo Airport
N Figure 4
Sky lights carved from roof
from the extremes of temperature. This
has structured, shaped and coloured
the appearance of the city and largely
defined its architectural character. It is this
character, along with its climate, that has
provided the main influence for our design
of the new international Terminal 2 at
Pulkovo Airport.
Environmental response
Influence of snow on design
For airport terminals, due to their very
size, the roof is the most dominant and
recognisable element. In the simplest sense,
it is required to protect those beneath from
the extremes of the external environment
and in St. Petersburg this relates mainly to
snow. Any snowfall in St. Petersburg can
sit for prolonged periods, sometimes for
months and at depths of over 2m thick. Our
main consideration was to design the roof
to avoid snow drifting, which can result in
uneven loading of the structure.
In response to this, the roof is
predominantly flat with minimal relief,
ensuring that snow accumulates as evenly
as possible across its 45 000m2 surface.
Where snow falls it eventually melts, so
our roof design also had to deal with lots
of meltwater and the period in spring when
the diurnal range in temperatures can be
between ±10°C. This means that the snow
melts during the day but refreezes at night.
To deal with this, the falls in the flat roof
are arranged as subtle, inverted prisms
resembling flat hoppers, with their lowest
points directly above the centreline of each
column (Figure 2). This allows the deepest
build-up of snow to be above the point of
greatest structural support and meltwater
to be collected at the natural point for
drainage (Figure 3).
A challenge for the engineers was to
ensure the benefit from the relatively flat
external surface could be realised in the
design and, as importantly, within the
notoriously prescriptive Russian approval
process. The local practice for calculating
the effects from snow on buildings of any
scale was defined by the SNiP loading
24/09/2015 10:59

YURI MOLODKOVETS
standard1; however, as an international team
we pushed for scale testing.
The code approach predicted significant
localised drift loads against the roof lights,
up to 7.2kPa. Site-specific wind tunnel and
snow testing not only allowed a significant
reduction in the codified drift loads, but
reduced the onerous pattern loading
assumptions. Such load imbalances for
the continuous roof structural system
were undesirable in terms of increased
deflections and rotation at the columns,
with a direct influence on roof steel
tonnages. Once confirmed with the Russian
specialists and authorities that the wind
tunnel testing results were acceptable,
these loads were fed into the analysis
models and the client was provided with
significant steelwork tonnage savings.
Natural light
After snow, the second environmental
consideration for the roof design was how
we used daylight within the building. Roof
lights were the natural starting point to get
TSE46_12-19 Project Focus v1.indd 15
daylight deep into the heart of the building
(Figure 4). In order to remain effective
throughout the year, particularly during
winter when sunlight is at a premium, the
prism-like roof lights, reminiscent of crystals
of ice, project above the flat roof datum to a
height of over 4m at the centre, then taper
away sharply along the length of a roof
module. This ensures that even when snow
lies thick on the roof, the roof lights will still
retain their effectiveness.
Internally the soffit is arranged as a
series of flat triangular panels, apparently
folded around the structure of the roof.
The resultant geometrical appearance,
reminiscent of ice fractals, defines the
character of the airport’s internal spaces.
The soffit rises between the columns to
add volume and space beneath and is then
carved to enforce the intuitive direction
passengers travel to get to the planes. This
movement is reinforced by the natural light
from the roof lights running in the same
direction.
Form development
Folded surfaces
The roof and soffit treatment emerged from
the design process to become the defining
identity of Pulkovo’s redevelopment. From
concept to detail, it has been subject to
 Figure 5
Folded paper maquettes
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15
careful consideration and investigation.
This has been undertaken through the
use of some computer models but also
the development of physical models of
increasing size and complexity. At the
beginning, the concept of a folded surface
was clear in our collective consciousness
and was initially investigated with the use
of traditional origami and paper-folding
methods and techniques. Creased paper
and card maquettes were created to
explore and investigate the subtleties
of the geometry and the need for the
surface to alter in height and depth (Figure
5). These models allowed for quick and
efficient evaluation of many diagrammatic
approaches, as well as the articulation of
volume and linear space.
In addition to the physical realism of the
models, these early explorations confirmed
a clear relationship between the plan and
a necessity for it to be permeated with
light. As we progressed with our ideas, the
increasingly refined geometry demanded a
more flexible form of representation. This
resulted in our use of an origami computer
programme designed for children, called
Pepakura, which was originally conceived
as a way to turn cartoon characters into
folded paper models. We used it as a
model-making tool and folding pattern
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16 TheStructuralEngineer
October 2015
generator. The software proved to be very
useful, allowing complex three-dimensional
(3D) computer drawings to be converted
into simplistic two-dimensional (2D) origami
patterns. These could then be folded and
assembled as paper models of our roof.
This means of development allowed a
rapid exploration of the folded surface
but within the accuracy of CAD design
development (Figure 6). It also bridged the
gap between a cyber-representation and the
object itself. Key areas of evaluation included
different surface reliefs, structural depths
 Figure 6
Exploration of surface
 Figure 7
Truss comparison
analysis
TRICHORD
4kN/m2 applied live
load over entire
roof structure
Gmax
SECTION A
PEAK DEFLECTION UNDER BLANKET LIVE LOAD -
Gmax = 63mm
TSE46_12-19 Project Focus v1.indd 16
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Project Focus
Pulkovo Airport
and location of principle soffit crease lines.
This process allowed for many ideas to
be tested efficiently in a short space of
time and to a high degree of realism, which
enabled a thorough exploration of options
and a rounded evaluation of what could be
achieved within the concept of a folded
surface. Almost 100 maquettes were made
using this process. Various combinations
of the roof were built, from a single bay
to three full strips, using timber veneers,
metals and sprayed plastics. The largest of
these models was constructed at 1:75 scale.
This was over 4.5m long and mounted at
height so it could be viewed while standing
beneath, offering a unique perspective
of the idea. At this scale the model also
demonstrated the quality of light which
would be achieved within the areas of soffit
around the roof lights.
Star trusses
The original structural proposal for the
long-span roof was a series of transverse
rafters between long-span tri-chord
trusses on a 72m × 18m grid. This solution
STAR TRUSS ARRANGEMENT
4kN/m2 applied live
l d over entire
load ti
roof structure
SECTION A
4kN/m2 applied live
load over entire
roof structure
PEAK DEFLECTION UNDER BLANKET LIVE LOAD -
Gmax = 34mm
drew its stability through discrete link
beam elements which spanned through
the feature roof lights. Value engineering
saw the long roof span decrease to
45m, reducing the aspect ratio of the
bay dimensions. This move sparked
the idea of an alternative geometry –
planar steel trusses spanning diagonally
between the main roof columns. The
geometry resembles a six-pointed star
and was nicknamed the ‘star truss’ by the
team (Figure 7). The unique star truss
consisted of planar trusses which could be
prefabricated and arranged as a star on
plan, running longitudinally along the 45m
span, and diagonally crossing over the roof
lights only at mid-span. This was found to
minimise the architectural impact on the
roof lights, while the global triangulation
of the diagonals at the crossovers gave a
very stiff lateral behaviour. As no bracing
could penetrate the roof lights, the parallel
tri-chord arrangement lights relied on minor
axis bending which was significantly more
flexible.
The longitudinal and diagonal trusses
4kN/m2 applied live
load over entire
roof structure
SECTION B
Gmax
SECTION B
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17

 Figure
e8
Exploded
ded axonometric
drawing of roof

W Figure
e9
Roof under
construction
n

were connected within a bay with restraint

steelwork at 4.5m centres, which had
a secondary function of supporting the
soffit cladding and propping the rafters.
The rafters on the top surface had a slight
incline for drainage and supported the
aluminium standing seam roof. Over the roof
lights an independent, small, glazed pyramid
housed the north light reflectors (Figures 8
and 9).

Parametric modelling
The star truss arrangement maximised
the structural zone available, aligning truss

PASCALL + WATSON
chord members along the ridge lines of
the folded soffit. The solution involved
over 12 000 structural steel members, and
due to pattern load and thermal effects
the entire roof had to be included in the
analysis models to determine the design
forces. Advanced modelling techniques,
including parametric modelling and bespoke
S Figure 10
Parametric model of one
module of star truss
automated member utilisation scripts
(to both SNiP1 and Eurocodes), allowed
real-time updates to analysis models and
drawings to reflect refinements in the
geometry. This parametric software not
only allowed the engineering to react to
the folded soffit investigations described
earlier, with near to real-time feedback now
a possibility within the design team, but also
facilitated various truss arrangements and
optimisations to be assessed within a short
timescale (Figure 10).

Temperature range
The large temperature range was a
further environmental consideration for
the structural design and constructability
of the roof. The conventional solution in

TSE46_12-19 Project Focus v1.indd 17 24/09/2015 11:00


18 TheStructuralEngineer
October 2015
buildings for controlling thermal stresses
and movements in a roof of this scale is
to use lateral expansion joints. However,
these would have provided unsightly
detailing issues and complicated the
vertical load-carrying philosophy. To avoid
the use of joints, a solution was borrowed
from conventional bridge design, placing
spherical bridge bearings on the top of
all of the roof columns. A combination of
rotational and sliding bearings was utilised
to provide movement in the long direction
and fixity in the short direction. This
approach provided an optimum balance of
stiffness (lateral and vertical) and stress
in the roof members and achieved a roof
plane free of joints.
Lateral stability of the roof was provided
by cantilever columns (Figure 11). These main
stability columns are striking architectural
features themselves, with a footprint at
ground level of 2.5m × 3.5m. Following the
movement strategy, the main line of stability
columns is located in the main baggage
void, which reinforces the architectural
themes. These baggage ‘mega’ columns
act as the central ‘anchor point’ for the
roof. The remaining stability columns have
sliding guided bearings at the head, allowing
longitudinal movement but resisting lateral
 Figure 11
Stability column
a) During construction
TSE46_12-19 Project Focus v1.indd 18
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Project Focus
Pulkovo Airport
movement of the roof (Figure 12).
Data handling
The handling of data and selective use
of computational power became a huge
focus for the roof engineering team. The
definition data; loading, geometry, member
and material properties; analysis models
running non-linearly with around 300 load
combinations; and post-processing scripts
and summary tables had to be controlled in
a way which could be communicated to the
team. Each iterative loop resulted in over
3M lines of analysis data which needed to
be checked against the design codes and
a rationalised set of member utilisations
produced. To do this, each member in the
model was defined with a unique label
identifying its bay location and function,
and the members were grouped for similar
bay types to aid some rationalisation
and repetition. This process resulted in a
reduction of 30% in roof steelwork tonnage
from concept to tender with no reduction in
performance.
Further challenges
As previously mentioned, ensuring
compliance with the prescriptive Russian
b) Pot bearing at head
c) Near completion
codes was a major challenge for all the
engineering disciplines. However, in the
case of robustness and disproportionate
collapse there was no SNiP guidance.
There was a local St. Petersburg Territorial
Building Standard 31-332-2006 (TSN),
which outlines progressive collapse
design requirements for public high-rise
buildings; and there was also a Moscow
State Construction Norm 4.19-05 (MGSN),
which outlines the progressive collapse
requirements for high-rise buildings in
Moscow. Neither of these strictly applied
to the new terminal, as the TSN applies
to public buildings over 50m in height and
the MGSN to buildings over 75m. However,
the MGSN in particular provided a useful
background to Russian requirements
against progressive collapse.
In line with the client’s and design teams’
commitment to delivering a terminal which
would be at the very least comparable to
Europe’s leading terminals, it was decided
to ensure full compliance with the Eurocode
robustness requirements. In addition
we consulted the MGSN on a number
of specific progressive collapse items
where it was clear we would need to take
extra steps to meet the common Russian
approach.
Specifically, this meant conducting a
column and element removal analysis to the
MGSN for typical internal and edge columns
of all structures, with the aim of verifying
the integrity of the global building stability;
verifying local element removal (removal
of elements supporting greater than 80m2
does not cause global failure), which would
be a disproportionately large impact for a
local event; and assessing whether column
removal does cause local collapse of the
surrounding floor plate.
A staged non-linear (both geometric and
material) analysis was undertaken for both
the frame and roof for these accidental load
cases, where the models were loaded to
a working load before key elements were
removed. The behaviour of the surrounding
areas after element removal was then
assessed for overload and movement. For
the reinforced-concrete frame this process
was reasonably straightforward due to
the inherently robust nature of a concrete
frame.
Local element removal did not prove a
major concern in the roof due to the high
level of redundancy within the star truss
arrangement. However, column removal was
more complex due to the significant size of
the bays, particularly removal of perimeter
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 Figure 13
3D model of
structural frame
columns. Similarly to the frame, the roof was
analysed in a full non-linear model, loading
to a working load before removal of the
column. Allowing load redistribution through
plasticity and catenary action, the edge
of the roof was not locally stable under
the accidental loading. It was therefore
necessary to model the wind posts with
gap elements at their head to replicate
slotted connections. This allowed us to
utilise the wind posts to prop the roof once
a sufficient deformation had occurred. This
was a potentially contentious issue as the
large cantilever columns could be designed
as a key element to the Eurocodes with
no increase in cost, whereas without
TSE46_12-19 Project Focus v1.indd 19
a complex non-linear analysis, column
removal to the MGSN would have meant a
significant increase in roof steel tonnage
and change in architectural form to satisfy
Gosexpertiza.
Conclusion
The architectural concept of expansive
open spans presented the entire team with
a challenging task of adapting and justifying
modern terminal design concepts which
were still considered cutting edge and
innovative in international practice for the
local Russian approvals process.
The project benefited from the use of
physical and computer modelling. In the
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19
W Figure 12
Stability column
arrangement
development of form the design team could
rapidly explore options through paper
models and parametric CAD models.
For the structural engineering team,
the use of wind tunnel testing reduced
the onerous loading demands of the SNiP
loading code. Non-linear (both geometric
and material) finite-element models
assessed the stability of the roof’s steel
structure in areas the local code was
lacking, namely in the plastic behaviour
of steel structures, where assessing the
disproportionate collapse and buckling
stability of long-span structures is key.
Through the use of eigenvalue and
transient buckling models and element
removal models, the structural solution
could be demonstrated to be a lean yet
robust design, and acceptable to the local
authorities (Figure 13).
The emphasis and drive to deliver this
concept in a challenging environment was
not limited to the structural engineering
team; it was a real unified design
team effort. The fire engineers utilised
computational fluid dynamics modelling
to predict and control the smoke build-
up in the event of a fire. The resulting
compartmentation strategy was far beyond
the means of the standard design codes,
facilitating an open, expansive concourse
and unobstructed vertical voids from the
ground-floor level to the roof, opening up
the roof to be admired throughout the
terminal. The acoustic engineers modelled
these ‘cathedral-like’ spaces defined by
the rise and fall of the roof soffit to ensure
the reverberation behaviour was not
compromised.
The results of these investigations
have led to a design that is unique to St.
Petersburg. The folded, angular roof soffit
is distinctly of its time but it has been
shaped by the timeless influences of the
local environment and the rich architectural
heritage of the city.
Reference
E1 Federal Registry of
National Building Codes
and Standards of Russia
(2004) SNiP 2.01.07-85:
Loads and effects, Moscow,
Russia: Federal Registry of
National Building Codes and
Standards of Russia
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