The San Diego Airport embarked on a seven-year, $3.4 billion project to completely overhaul terminal one. Arrive, a joint venture construction group needed 73,872 square-feet of conference, office and administration space to support not only their team working on the new expansion, but also those displaced by the expansion. Pacific Mobile provided two buildings after Arrive awarded us the bid based on our approach and our ability to deliver and setup the temporary structures the fastest. The building housing Arrive totaled 44,352 square-feet and the Airport Authority building totaled 29,520 square-feet.

Pacific Mobile’s value-engineering approach resulted in significant cost savings for the customer in terms of building and electrical design. We opted for an outrigger chassis instead of a perimeter chassis, resulting in significant savings in steel cost alone. Instead of running power to each of the 103 trailer sections, the power was instead run to main distribution channels located in an electrical room in each of the two trailers. Power was then run internally throughout the trailer. This saved an additional significant amount in installation.

With those extra cost-savings, high-end finishes and lighting were implemented, featuring LED strip lighting to echo the lighting used in the airport itself. In addition to this lighting upgrade, a distinct feature of this project is the use of Solatubes which harness optical technologies to feed optimal amounts of pure natural light indoors with minimal heat gain and loss sunup to sundown.

Specially requested nine-foot ceilings complete the buildings, making them not only the largest buildings we’ve provided in terms of square footage, but also in terms of height. Typically, our buildings are built with seven-foot, 10-inch ceilings equating to a standard height of 14.4 feet to 14.5 feet. With nine-foot ceilings, the height equated to 16 feet, six inches.

Overall, what makes this project so unique is its sheer size. This is the largest renovation the San Diego Airport has ever undergone. It’s the largest project Phoenix Modular, the factory for this project, has ever produced. In turn, this project for the San Diego Airport is a landmark project for Pacific Mobile Structures as the largest project we’ve ever delivered on.