New underground car park at Luxemburg Airport

Car Park Safety – Due to Colour Coding and Fire Protection

Bright, friendly and with well-conceived traffic routing: The new underground car park at Luxemburg Airport proves just how modern a functional building can be. The main creative element is colour. The footprint of the four car park levels is identical, but each one is painted in a different colour. All fire barriers – doors leading to stairs and entrance doors – fit perfectly into the simple guidance system. For example, the colour code not only helps drivers, but also guides pedestrians back to their vehicles.

The days of dull underground car parks where users never really felt safe are definitely a thing of the past. The car park of the new terminal at Luxemburg Airport is an excellent example of this new style: Bright and friendly car park without dark corners. The deliberate use of colour makes the building appear friendly – and prevents car park users getting lost: Each level is painted in a distinctive colour: yellow, green, red, blue. Lines in the respective colour of each level run along the walls. Furthermore, all entrances, i.e. doors leading to stairs, doors at access points and even special doors (e.g. to electrical equipment areas), are finished in the same colour as the corresponding level. 

The Teckentrup doors were primed prior to delivery and then finished on-site – a total of 300 doors, 32 fire-proof sectional doors and 20 fire-proof sliding doors, including some with a wicket door, were installed. 


Versatile application of fire doors

Underground car parks pose a particular fire hazard. To prevent a fire spreading, all car park entrances and access points are equipped with T30 fire barriers. The most frequently used doors connecting the car park and the terminal have to be extremely durable and hard-wearing. Therefore, robust T90-2-SV fire-proof doors were used. A retractable bottom seal helps to ensure smoke protection, and the seal is practically wear-free, since it does not rub on the floor. 
An electrical equipment area is located on each underground car park level. To provide maximum safety, T90-1 doors were used in these fire hazardous areas. According to local conditions, corner or block frames were installed for doors leading to the stairs, gallery and escape routes. Porthole windows in the active door leaves allow car park users to see people approaching from the other side before even opening the door.
Access points to the individual levels are equipped with T30 sliding doors. To ensure that people can escape quickly in an emergency, some doors include a wicket door without a threshold. 
Sliding doors (without a wicket door) – or fire-proof sectional doors – were used between the fire compartments on the individual levels: The sectional doors create extra (parking) space, as they are positioned directly underneath the ceiling when open, thus requiring less sideroom than the sliding doors.

Conclusion: A sophisticated design and tested building elements result in an ultra safe car park: Bright car park levels and a comprehensive colour scheme ensure that airport visitors do not get lost; and the fire doors ensure safety in the unlikely event of a fire.