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people were reported dead May 24 following the early Sunday
morning collapse of part of the concourse of Paris' Charles
de Gaulle's airport, 11 months after it opened. As well as technical
investigations, an official probe that could lead to a criminal
proceeding was launched, as is common in France for such disasters.
With little warning, the collapse
occurred along a roughly 30-m-long section concourse built
on an elevated platform in front of the $900-million Terminal
2E main building. Clad in glass, the 650-m-long concourse
building is enclosed by a concrete vault, springing from a
raised slab, with numerous square window openings.
With a flattened ellipse section,
the vault spans around 34 meters and was erected in large
precast ring sections by Paris-based GTM Construction. A joint
venture led by Eiffel Construction Metallique SA, Metz. did
detailed design and installation of the nonstructural steelwork
envelope holding the glass enclosure.
To help investigations, project
architect Paul Andreu was due back in Paris this Tuesday from
China, where he is working on a major theater complex in Beijing.
Andre led a team from the airport owner and operator Aéroport
de Paris, which also undertook the structural design.
While the terminal 2E was closed
to traffic, the similar, six-year-old Terminal 2F remains
in operations. Though the buildings have similar designs,
2E has a timber ceiling while 2F is lined with heavy, nonstructural
concrete. The concourse building also resembles the older
terminal, but its exposed interior concrete is structural,
explains an ADP architect.
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