LSIA – Chiller Plant No. 2

Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (LSIA) has undergone a major renovation of its Main Terminal building, including upgrades to the terminal’s HVAC systems. The terminal, originally designed in 1953, hadn’t seen a comprehensive renovation since 1978.   As part of the renovations, modernization of the terminal’s central chiller plant was necessary to improve energy efficiency and reduce operation and maintenance costs.

The existing chiller plant consisted of a congested array of pipes, conduits, ducts, and equipment. Any new equipment had to be placed in such a way as to minimize the impact on existing systems to remain. Consequently, a detailed layout of the existing chiller plant was required.

DMA provided surveying of the interior of the existing chiller plant. Horizontal and vertical controls for the project were established. The horizontal control was referenced relative to the existing building structure and the vertical control was relative to the existing finished floor. We then performed 3D laser scanning of the chiller plant interior. Our 3D scan resulted in a point cloud for modeling the surface features (building walls, structure features, piping, ducts, and existing equipment).

We processed the scanned data using Trimble Realworks, and we provided a 3D model of the existing conditions that was used by the mechanical and electrical engineers for the design of new systems.