Piedmont Triad International Airport uses Larco Safety Mats for Door Activation

When it comes to airport expansion and renovation projects, Larco reveals there is an additional layer of concern that architects and vendors have to factor in.

These include matching existing entrances and decor, increasing convenience factors, and, above all, keepoing passengers secure from outside threats.

According to Larco, airports have to balance three main concerns when choosing doors and entrance hardware: Reliability, Safety, and Maintenance Costs.

Reliability: Since airports process hundreds (even thousands) of passengers every day, they are among the highest-traffic installations for automatic doors.
Safey: Airports are concerned about passenger safety, as well as reducing liability claims as a result of injuries from accidents with automatic doors.
Maintenance Costs: With hundreds of pairs of doors at our nation's largest airports, it's important to keep maintenance costs under control. Otherwise, these costs can quickly eat up profits as a result of unreliable products and door hardware.

Larco has helped a number of companies resolve their automatic door needs. The Piedmont Airport is just one example of the success of automatic door mats.

The Piedmont Triad International Airport

The Piedmont Triad International Airport, located in Greensboro, North Carolina, is a 3,700-acre campus that is home to over 50 companies that employ more than 4,000 people. In 2007, PTIA processed more than 2 million air travelers.

According to chief project architect Rodney Lindsey of the Triad Design Group, the 20-year old airport facility was due for some work. Recently, PTIA undertook a half-million dollar renovation project to update the airport's doors and entrances.

Balancing Act

Lindsey stated the main goal of the renovation was to find a good match to the existing form and surface doors throughout the building. PTIA made changes to door operators, choosing a different mechanism that offered more finite control and longer life.

But despite changing the operator for their automatic doors, Lindsey said the PTIA chose not to change their activating devices at the same time. He revealed the number one reason is because mats were already installed on the remaining doors and it was very important to match the exisiting decor. Secondly, the airport authority had experimented with other types of sensing devices and simply didn't like the look of them.

"The authority didn't want to degrade the doors with black sticks and other operators that had to be applied to the doors," Lindsey remarked. He went on to say that although the PTIA experimented with other types of sensors that could be hidden in soffets or out of the way, the airport wasn't happy with they way they functioned. "They liked the fail-safe operation of mats," Lindsey explained. "When you step on them, the door opens and they won't close until they step off them."

In the end, the airport chose options that provided lower maintenance costs combined with the increased convenience factor of "fail-safe" automatic door systems. In addition, the PTIA was able to match exisiting decor and maintain the elegant look of its doors and entrances. These choices helped the airport effectively balance reliability and safety issues with an increased level of convenience to passengers and th general public.

Visit the Automatic Door Mat section for more information.

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