Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport’s T3 Terminal project is the largest expansion and renovation project in the history of China’s civil aviation airport construction. The terminal adopts a ‘central main building + wing’ configuration, consisting of the main building and eastern and western wings, with a total construction area exceeding 6.8 million square meters.
The T3 terminal has a unique design inspired by ‘flowers,’ with eight petals cleverly forming a ‘flower’ shape. The steel structure of this project includes flower crown columns, main building steel roof, prestressed cables, wing roofs, boarding bridges, indoor steel structures, tensioned membrane canopies, etc., totaling about 50,000 tons of steel. The main building’s steel roof structure is assembled from 82,000 rods and 18,000 welded spheres, covering an area of 11.8 million square meters, equivalent to 16 standard football fields. The dimensions of the steel roof are 435 meters long east-west and 573 meters long north-south, with a maximum architectural height of 42.95 meters. After the project goes into operation, Baiyun Airport’s annual passenger throughput capacity will reach 120 million passengers, and its cargo throughput capacity will reach 3.8 million tons, placing it at the forefront globally in terms of passenger and cargo throughput scale.
As the final work of Baiyun Airport, T3 terminal building is designed with the concept of “Flowers in Guangzhou • Flowers in Guangzhou”, which will provide a brand new, intelligent terminal building representing the cultural characteristics of Lingnan culture in Guangzhou for global passengers.
Yexing is mainly responsible for the secondary steel structure and membrane surface of the tensioned membrane canopy at Guangzhou Baiyun Airport T3 terminal project. The membrane material used is imported PTFE from Germany, and Yexing covers its design, construction, installation, and acceptance work. According to the on-site project manager, the steel structure installation has already been carried out. The perfect wavy lines have begun to take shape, with the “petal” concept of the tensioned membrane canopy echoing the petal-shaped eaves of the terminal. Inspired by kapok flowers, leading sheep, and banyan trees, the floral basket structure columns support the arched roof composed of petals, creating an overall graceful and dynamic appearance, unique in style.
