Albany airport wins infrastructure award

Real Estate Weekly, Jan 10, 2001

A Best of 2000 Merit Award for Infrastructure, given annually by the New York Construction News, has been awarded to the recently completed parking facilities, pedestrian bridge, and land side improvements at Albany International Airport.

Designed by TAMS Consultants, in association with Mallen Mendel of Albany, the $35 million parking and site improvement project offers parking patrons a new "front door" to the airport. Components of the project include a recently completed, 1,600-car parking garage and an 800-car parking extension.

The pre-cast concrete parking facility is designed for passenger comfort and convenience: generous floor-to-floor heights create a light and welcoming environment; rental car facilities are located at ground level; flat floor plates encourage passenger orientation; well-located escalators and elevators separate pedestrians from vehicular traffic; and external speed ramps provide rapid vertical circulation. The circulation spine provides protected access and a clear travel path for drivers in both the structured and the surface lots.

A landscaped corridor through the site connects the airport terminal and garage to the nearby historic Shaker Village. The south face of the garage (facing the historic Shaker community) is treated as a building-scale garden wall of brick piers and vine-covered metal grille, to visually screen the parking decks, while allowing for open air requirements. Further, the landscape introduces naturalistically planted berms to screen cars, frame the entrance to the airport, and provide a character compatible with the adjacent Shaker community.

The new parking facilities and site improvements were designed to support recent growth at the airport, in part fueled by the Southwest Airlines, which inaugurated daily service from Albany International this spring.