Shipping Giant Breaks Ground for New Facility at CVG

In 2017, Amazon broke ground on the Amazon Air Hub, a multi-building campus with more than three-million square feet of space at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). The space includes room for more than 100 Amazon-branded planes that will handle an estimated 200 fights per day, all with its own air traffic control center.

The main focal point is a sortation building with robots that help move and sort packages in a 3.5 million-square-foot area with one ground floor and 3 mezzanines, as well as 27 aircraft gates for loading and unloading packages.

The campus also includes maintenance buildings, a 1200 -car parking garage, an associates services building and more.

With the sheer size of the façade, the design team was searching for a single-source manufacturer that could supply the entire exterior wall assembly. The ability to execute on a large-scale project drew the design team to CENTRIA as the ideal choice for the exterior cladding solution.

Prototype Met

CENTRIA’s MetalWrap was the key component selected for the design of the building envelope. MetalWrap was installed in Charcoal Gray and Gray. Featuring a foamed-in-place insulating core, MetalWrap combines with steel skins and integral joinery, providing an efficient system that is building code compliant. Backed by a 10-year weathertight warranty, MetalWrap guarantees durability and longevity for any building envelope. A single component construction material means a single source of responsibility, less coordination, fewer scheduling and interface issues, and one-step installation by one contractor.

“We took the design to 100% completion as a linear box. Then we realized this was flagship project and it should stand out architecturally,” said Paul Carney, senior associate at AECOM. “We redesigned the building to include visual arrangements that broke up the massing of the facades with color variations, and out of plane extrusions.”

CENTRIA’s MetalWrap was a superior choice for integrating into other building components to help meet specific requirements.

“There were several different exhaust requirements, so we were able to use precast concrete and continuous louver bands to make sure the detailing was right”, said Dennis Perry, chief architect at AECOM. “CENTRIA helped us to streamline this process, without compromising our detailed design.”

The project team also selected CENTRIA SRS 3 roof panels in Regal White, Custom Blue and Gray, to bring the traditional Amazon color scheme into the design. CENTRIA’s SRS roof panels are mechanically seamed metal roof panels that feature striking sight lines and the option for curved panels to add dramatic aesthetic effects.

Ready for Takeoff

The construction began on the Amazon Air Hub in 2017. The air hub opened and began operations in 2021, with over 12 million square feet of space for future expansion.