Aviation & Transportation
From modular and prefab design and construction to design-build know-how and planning, we keep gates, terminals, stations, lounges, restaurants, and security operational during expansion and modernization projects.
DeSimone’s aviation and transportation designers offer what few engineering firms can: specialized expertise that’s laser-focused on meeting this sector’s varied needs. Our world-class structural engineers, façade and building envelope consultants, detailers, resiliency and seismic experts, and more—together collaborate with dedication and creativity. We consistently realize each client’s aesthetic vision while meeting—and even exceeding—cost, schedule, and performance parameters.
On aviation projects, we often collaborate with our strategic partner Rogers DeSimone Structural Engineers, a certified WBE firm based in Houston, Texas, and specializing in the structural engineering and modular assembly of major aviation facilities. Since forming our partnership, our ability to access their expertise on key projects has proven invaluable.
As aviation and transportation designers, we are committed to enhancing the passenger journey, imagining and creating bright, resilient, modern airports, rail stations, and cruise terminals in place of aging infrastructure, overcrowded spaces, and inefficient passenger processing.
Our structural engineers and façade and building envelope consultants create soaring, light-filled, transparent spaces that blur the boundaries between earth and sky or sky and sea—spaces that reference the transcendent flight of air travel, or the experience of a ship cruising upon the waves toward a faraway horizon.
Key aviation projects include the McCarran International Airport T1-TE Connection, an 800-foot (244 M) walkway tunnel between terminals under the tarmac in Las Vegas, the Miami International Airport South Terminal, a five-story steel and concrete shear wall structure, featuring a 14-gate 800,000-SF (74,300 SM) concourse and a 65-foot (20 M) window wall. In China, we completed the phased Nanning Airport featuring four project wings serving as boarding areas.
Our façade and building envelope specialists completed the façade for the American Express Centurion Lounge at JFK Airport in NYC, with a large, branded entrance featuring a custom-designed, Italian-crafted mosaic art mural inspired by the New York City subway.
From optimized siting to developing structural solutions, our goal is efficient, effective aviation and transportation facilities. We evaluate performance, cost, and speed-to-market benefits for all types of facilities. We consider passenger-facing experiences, facility operations, and the logistical infrastructure necessary to keep systems running. We even design distinctive, safe, and durable pedestrian bridges and connectors between terminals and parking, hotels, and other related buildings.
Climate conditions have an outsized impact on aviation and transportation facilities. We strive to maximize resilient and sustainable approaches to mitigate weather-related damage and interruption.
That’s what our structural engineers and façade and envelope experts achieved for the new 492,000-SF (45,708 SM) MSC Miami Cruise Terminal, the largest in the world, capable of processing 36,000 passengers daily and berthing three ships at a time. Resiliency design includes measures to protect the terminal from a 70-year flood, a new elevated bulkhead system to protect against sea-level rise, and an elevated, covered walkway from the 2,400-car garage to the terminal’s second-level entry plaza to provide resilience against potential flooding. The dynamic, organically undulating glass façade references cresting waves and has been designed to withstand hurricane winds and wind-carried debris.
About us
In an industry in which consolidation has become the norm, DeSimone stands apart from large engineering practices. The diversification of our services enables us to support a global clientele experiencing complex challenges. We remain independent so that we are able to provide bespoke and personal solutions, wherever your vision takes you.
Structural engineering is where we began, and it is still the core of our practice. But through the years, we have expanded the services we offer our clients, from façade and building envelope to vertical transportation to steel detailing and fabrication-ready modeling to advisory services.
