Simon Bolivar Airport

A Doorway to the Caribbean

The Simon Bolivar International Airport is the doorway to Santa Maria for domestic and international passengers travelling through the most important Colombian city in the Magdalena Region.

The main building's smooth surfaces along with its < 25 m radius curved roof are what make the Airport most peculiar. A flexible, thin material was employed to create this effect, featuring exceptional performance specifications (in relation to its surface area) as well. In fact, Riverclack® standard 0.7 mm thick aluminium sheets are self-curving, adapting perfectly to > 25 m surface shape curvature radii, whereas a short curvature radius up to 3 m can be achieved by roll bending the already profiled material. Riverclack® has shown to be the de facto ideal solution for this project.

Noise pollution levels and energy consumption caused by air conditioning systems also had to be taken into account. The Riverclack® standing seam system - combined with a specially designed covering package - was installed, leading to a dramatic reduction of those values, whilst increasing the environmental comfort level for anyone passing through the airport, whether visitors or operators.

Given the coastal location of Santa Marta and its airport (less than 50 m away from the sea), designers have opted for a special PVDF pre-painted aluminium roofing finish. The Riverclack® 5754 H18 magnesium-based alloy is designed to be weatherproof and especially sea salt corrosion resistant, making it unique compared to other alloys commonly used in the roofing industry.