The rebirth of Charles de Gaulle

摘要

There is a light, polished feel to Terminal 2E at Charles de Gaulle airport. The steel arches that line the banana-shaped building are elegantly finished in ash veneer, the whole structure is cocooned in glass, and there is a pervading smell of newness. It is hard to believe that four years ago this was the site of a fatal disaster. On 23 May 2004, just 11 months after the terminal opened, part of its concrete structure collapsed, killing four people. Last month, operator Aeroports de Paris (ADP) opened the rebuilt terminal. A government inquiry into the collapse cited a number of structural support problems that undermined the strength of the building's concrete shell. Commenting on the report's findings that the shell was "too fragile", Jean Berthier, the leader of the inquiry, described the strength of the concrete as being "sapped little by little" over time. Thirty metres of the 700m long structure had collapsed, leaving ADP with the decision to either rebuild the broken section or start again from scratch. Although the Berthier commission recommended that the terminal did not have to be completely demolished, it did question the reliability of putting the concrete superstructure on a raised concrete base.