On its completion in early 2025, Studio Pacific Architecture’s new flagship hangar for Air New Zealand — Hangar 4 in Auckland — will be the largest single-span timber arch aircraft hangar in the southern hemisphere. At one and a half times the size of the airline’s largest existing hangar, it will be able to house one wide-bodied aircraft, such as a Boeing 777-300 or 787-9, as well as two narrow-bodied aircraft, such as an A320 or an A321neo, at the same time.

The laminated veneer lumber (LVL) and cross-laminated timber (CLT) hybrid timber arch, designed in association with structural engineer Alistair Cattanach of Dunning Thornton, spans 98 metres and has a low total structure mass, making it considerably easier and more efficient to put together on site than a similarly sized steel structure would be.

Lead architect Patrick Thompson says the arch geometry also resulted in an increased net-useable floor area in the hangar, which will provide for internal storage of equipment and aircraft planning offices. Specialist services to the planes will be delivered underground to service pits.

Click here to read more.