San Francisco International Airport (SFO), one of the busiest airports in the United States, recently completed a new building called the SFO Consolidated Administration Campus. Its purpose is to house workers from four departments – administration, landside, terminal and airside operations – all under one roof.

Designed by Perkins + Will and Mark Cavagnero Associates, the building totals 135,000 square feet throughout one structure with four levels above grade and associated surface parking. As SFO expanded in size, the dispersal of staff across the campus caused difficulties in collaboration and connectivity. To remedy this, CAC brought the different departments together. In addition to office space, CAC also houses the SFO Museum, the only accredited museum in the country.

More than 55,000 square feet of BENCHMARK Designwall 2000 Architectural Wall Panels from Kingspan were used in the CAC building.

The design of the CAC building includes different shapes and angles, which required the use of insulated metal panels (IMPs) in custom sizes and widths. The custom panels were cut during the manufacturing process, so no field cutting was required – that made for an easier installation. Three colors of Designwall 2000 panels were used – Regal White, Bright Silver and Weathered Zinc. The building uses unique Kingspan Deep Joint panels that join 2” and 3” panels together.

“Contextually, the metal panels are a nice offsite reflection or evolution of the surrounding area done in a really modern way that supports the office environment,” said Sarah Rege, senior project manager at Perkins + Will.

The insulated metal panels were installed both horizontally and vertically on the exterior walls as well as soffits. The design called for an extensive use of extrusions; more than 700 were used on the base, walls, corners and parapet of the building. In addition to extrusions, approximately 4,000 feet of flashing was used to give the CAC building a finished, modern look.

“Insulated metal panels provide an ideal exterior cladding to meet a very high energy conservation target for this project,” said Kang Kiang, partner at Mark Cavagnero Associates. “Additionally, the panels provide exceptional acoustic insulation properties, ideal for a site with close adjacency to traffic and plane noise.”

SFO has set a goal to become a Net Zero Energy airport. Energy efficiency in the CAC building, as well as other buildings in SFO, is crucial as airport leaders pursue this goal. The building was awarded LEED Gold status by the United States Green Building Council.

“The building is net zero energy capable with a modeled energy use intensity score of 25, so the internal systems and exterior envelope were designed holistically to support those goals,” said Rege.

If successful, SFO will be the world’s first Net Zero Energy airport campus.