Bombardier Aircraft Assembly Centre

Bombardier Aircraft Assembly Centre 

NEUF architect(e)s delivers state-of-the-art jet manufacturing facility for Bombardier at Toronto Pearson International Airport. The campus is comprised of two main buildings and several support structures with a richness of scales. The principal one, an aerostructures manufacturing assembly line and a flight test hangar, take the functional program as a starting point to resolve a series of volumes limited by many site constraints. This project marks a strategic leap forward for Bombardier. The purpose-built design incorporates innovative design and modern materials, responding to strict manufacturing processes and regulatory procedures while exceeding international sustainability and safety standards to optimize the assembly and testing of jet aircraft.

Location
Mississauga, ON
Type
Aerospace, Architecture
Surface area
750,000 ft² / 69,677 m²
Status
Completed (2024)

Our approach to the design of the manufacturing facility aimed at an in-depth understanding of the client’s core business and current operational challenges. Taking this as a point of departure, we identified three primary design challenges and opportunities: merging the scalar and programmatic requirements of two seemingly dichotomous programs–office space and aircraft manufacturing, characterized by the large extents of the distinctive transonic wing design, negotiating through the challenging site and Transport Canada zoning requirements associated with the close proximity to runway 05-23, the busiest in Canada, and creating architecture that would challenge the typical aircraft hangar typology, being cold and impersonal, and fostering a human scale atmosphere and culture of collaboration through program adjacencies and natural light.

Diffused light & Intuitive Way Finding
Spatial Interaction & Human Scale

The exterior façades break away from the typical monotony of horizontal strip windows and propose a series of barcode-like vertical strips of translucent polycarbonate and complimentary ones of metal panels. The material shift to translucency is used as an intuitive wayfinding strategy. While providing ample diffused natural light to the production floor, single strip translucent panels are aligned with glass doors at exit corridors. This functional and dynamic proposal of massive spans, limited by functions of straight lines and fixed aircraft proportions, is yet designed for people.

To learn more about this project, consult the press release.


 

 

Photo Credit : Adrien Williams 

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