b'RUNWAYSHRL 41New Air Traffic Control TowerDesigned with the Future in MindAir traffic controllers will use a temporary remote tower (above) while the new 120-foot tower (rendering, left) is being built. advisory circulars, specifications and mandates. He also met with FAA personnel and air traffic controllers to inform his design.The result garnered positive attention from Davika In addition to its recent runway extension project, ValleyConstruction, construction manager for the overlapping runway International Airport (HRL) also has a $25 million air traffic controlproject. David Wolf, the firms resident project representative/tower project underway. Because the new 120-foot structure willconstruction manager compliments Sias for meeting all the be built in the existing towers location, the airport plans to usestringent FAA requirements without turning the tower into a big a mobile tower from Robinson Aviation Inc. during construction.Lego block or concrete cylinder. It really is gorgeous, says Wolf. Robinson also provides the air traffic control personnel at HRL.The architecture on it is commendable.In early July, design for the new tower was complete, andWhen designing it, Sias was inspired by other projects the temporary tower was set up and ready for action after thehappening at HRL to accommodate growth. The tower itself is planned Sept. 1 switchover. The remote tower is about the sizea visual culmination of all this forward thinking, he explains. We and shape of a fifth-wheel trailer, with a tower cab on top of thewanted the design to celebrate the culture of Valley International front that is big enough for two controllers to work inside together.Airport and to reflect its place geographically in South Texas, as The lower back side of the mobile tower houses computers andwell as its place in time with a nod to the future. communications equipment. As soon as control operations begin in the remote tower, crews will start leveling the existing tower.Sias selected two primary materials for the tower. For the Construction is scheduled to be complete in March 2026. exterior of the tower, Sias selected a reflective sheet metal panel system thats indicative of place. Airplanes are made out of Impetus for the project was twofold. First, the airports toweraluminum sheets, and its a steel structure that emulates this needed to be tied into its new fiber optic system. Second, thetechnological language of airplanes, he explains. The sheets existing tower is only 44 feet tall. With the recently completedchange color depending on the time of daytransitioning from runway extension, controllers needed more elevation to avoidgray to a deep blue found in the airports logo. The rest of the major line-of-sight issues.exterior is stucco plaster, with the same quatrefoil pattern found on Bryan Wren, assistant director of Aviation for HRL, notes thatthe terminal building. building a control tower is typically a once-in-a-lifetime project forA sculptural element at the top of the tower shields/protects an airportand doing so during a runway extension is practicallythe mechanical equipment and serves as an architectural crown. unheard of. The team selected RS&H as the architect of record,Its also a design nod to HRLs logo, which includes a paper and Megamorphosis, a local firm that had performed other work atairplane. The logo has an origami effect, Sias explains. We the airport, was named as design architect as part of that team. were inspired by the idea of folding a paper airplane to create the Megamorphosis architect Chris Sias, who was chargedsculptural element, so that when you look at it from just the right with the design, quickly got up to speed on the attendant FAAangle, you might be reminded of the airports logo. AirportImprovement.comSeptember 2024'