Southwest Airlines’ new Technical Operations Center (TOC) at Denver International Airport (DEN) represents a dynamic team response to unusual circumstances that stretched the project in unusual ways. Designed to house three Boeing 737 aircraft and park an additional eight on the apron, this 128,000-square-foot airplane hangar embodies the airline’s long-term commitment to Colorado as a national epicenter of operations. Southwest joined the design expertise of Ghafari Associates and Woolpert/JViation with the construction knowledge and local expertise of Swinerton’s Colorado team to establish a permanent presence on the edge of the Rockies.

The hangar incorporates a heavy steel and structural concrete frame that bridges a 270-foot clear span and 48,000 cubic yards of concrete. Technically five doors in one, the Megadoor stretches the length of the building with a tail pocket in the middle. The five fabric doors fold in sections—individually, in groups, or all together. The hangar features a standing seam metal roof, parapet membrane, and under-drain in the building to protect the structure from expansive soils.

The office space is protected with a mix of wet and pre-action sprinkler systems while the hangar is protected by redundant systems—a pre-action sprinkler system and a high-expansion foam fire suppression system supplied by a 500,000-gallon water storage tank. The tank feeds a free-standing fire pump house, with two 3,500-gpm diesel-driven pumps, that pump through a 24-inch private fire main into a foam concentrate mixing skid, and then to the foam generators located on the high roof of the hangar space.

In addition to the buildings, the 26-acre site is extensively paved thanks to the slab-on-grade hangar floor, a taxiway, and parking.

As Swinerton’s largest project to date with Southwest Airlines, the general contractor’s team successfully navigated the typical challenges of a complex aviation project and the atypical challenges of a global pandemic. While the aviation industry nearly ground to a halt, the job site for the TOC remained open, making it Southwest’s only capital improvement project operating across the country.