L.A. Fuess Partners Portfolio

American Airlines Wide-Body Maintenance Facility


Architect: Corgan

Location: Fort Worth, Texas

“Merit Award” 1992 Outstanding Engineering Project of the Year by American Society of Civil Engineers

This maintenance hangar was the largest cantilever hangar in the world at the time it was built, with a roof overhang of 280 feet, and a length of 1,275 feet it was also one of the largest maintenance hangars existing. Including 420,000 sq. ft. of shop space located on three levels across the back of the hangar, the total project area is 780,000 sq. ft. The roof is supported by cast-in-place concrete buttresses, 165 feet in height, and 36-inch deep steel tension members that support steel box trusses approximately 25 feet square in cross section and occurring every 185 feet along the length of the building.

The hangar enclosed 7 aircraft service bays, each equipped with landing gear elevators and designed for automated, roof-suspended service docks. Three sets of docks were installed, each weighing over 450,000 lbs. Shop space housed avionics, seat shops, machine shops, tool cribs, paint shops, and small parts centers. The third floor was used for administrative and engineering offices. Hangar services included a high-pressure central hydraulic system, 300-degree compressed air for engine airstart, a central 400 hz power system, and tool compressed air, pre-conditioned cabin air, and electrical power located in service pits in the hangar floor.

L.A. Fuess Partners served as the prime design professional in charge of architecture, structural engineering and MEP engineering, performing team coordination, conceptual design, structural engineering, and construction administration.



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