Spaceport America

Project Name: Spaceport America
Location: New Mexico
Architect: Foster + Partners
Material: 1.5mm stainless steel
System: Pohl Custom System
Construction: 2011-2012
Area of Panels: 30,000 sq. ft.

Back in 2005, Virgin Galactic and the State of New Mexico announced that they had reached an historic agreement which would see the building of a state funded $200m spaceport on a 27 square mile area of land in the southern part of the New Mexico "the Land of Enchantment".

The facility has been designed by world renowned, UK based Foster + Partners who won an international competition to build the first private spaceport in the world. The sinuous shape of the building in the landscape and its interior spaces seek to capture the drama and mystery of space flight itself, articulating the thrill of space travel for the first space tourists. Making a minimal impact on the environment, the scheme will be the first facility of its kind and a model for the future.

The Spaceport lies low within the desert-like landscape of the site in New Mexico and seen from the historic El Camino Real trail, the organic form of the terminal resembles a rise in the landscape. Using local materials and regional construction techniques, it is both sustainable and sensitive to its surroundings.

For this project Pohl Engineering LLC / Rainscreen Solutions LLC were pleased to provide engineering service for metal panel’s façade system.

For more information please visit:

http://www.fosterandpartners.com/projects/spaceport-america