With 90+ categories and 300+ jurors, the Architizer A+Awards is the world’s definitive architectural awards program. In anticipation of the Awards Gala and Phaidon book launch on May 14, we are pleased to take a closer look at some of the winners of the 2015 Awards program — see all of them here.
4.4 million square feet. 40 million passengers per year.
The headline statistics attached to the design brief for Terminal 2 at Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport might have proven daunting to many an architecture firm — but not so for Skidmore Owings and Merrill, a global studio that has an established reputation for delivering some of the world’s largest commercial megaprojects.
While they have grown particularly famous for their more vertical offerings in recent years, Chhatrapati is an exemplar in how to organize and unite facilities across a low-rise structure with an extraordinarily expansive footprint. SOM’s adept approach to their client’s mind-boggling programmatic requirements resulted in a new landmark complex that encapsulates the growing prosperity of India and secured the jury’s vote for the 2015 A+Award in the Airports category.
Completed last year, the terminal forms a major new transport hub for Mumbai. Design Partner Roger Duffy emphasized the project’s contextual significance: “SOM believes that, as gateways to nations and cities, airports play an important role in shaping the global image of their surrounding environment.” The huge new building has not come soon enough for India’s most populous city, which is growing at an extraordinary rate: A decade ago, Chhatrapati welcomed six million passengers through its gates annually; today, it serves nearly five times that number.
The hive of existing activity at the airport brought with it some serious logistical challenges: the new terminal building was to be located immediately next to the existing terminal, which had to remain fully operational throughout construction. “This condition inspired the elongated X-shaped plan of the terminal,” Duffy explained, “which could both mold around the existing structures and accommodate rapid and phased construction.”
Given the unfathomably large number of people projected to wind their way through the terminal’s facilities, SOM’s primary concern pertained to the provision of rational circulation spaces and maximum programmatic flexibility. Thus, the layout was based around three symmetrical concourses that radiate outward from a central processing core. According to the architects, this means the spaces are “easily reconfigured to ‘swing’ between serving domestic flights or international flights,” responding to changes in demand over time.
The terminal’s standout feature is, of course, remains overhead. “For the ceiling, our goal was to create something singular,” noted Duffy, “something that appeared to have been carved out of one block of material.” The resulting canopy spans 750,000 square feet of multifunctional zones, making it one of the largest on the planet without an expansion joint.
A parametric grid of panels — made from glass-fiber-reinforced gypsum, or GFRG — combines structural rigidity with minimal weight, allowing huge spans that engender a high degree of layout flexibility at ground level. 30 tree-like columns ascend vertically from the concourse floor, fanning out as they approach the ceiling four stories above, their interlaced elements inspired by the latticework of traditional Indian pavilion architecture.
Indeed, subtle injections of regional symbolism are present throughout the building, a result of SOM’s extensive site research in the early stages of the project. “The entire design team spent a week in Mumbai and Delhi, immersing ourselves in traditional art and architecture,” Duffy relates. “This trip formed a foundation for many of the custom installations found in the terminal.”
© Siddhesh Savant Photography
The chamfered shape of each concrete cell in the ceiling was designed to echo the feathers of a peacock, the national bird of India. Further features around the terminal allude to the country’s artistic heritage, including jali screens (which filter natural daylight in the gate lounges), custom ceramic frit patterns based on traditional textiles, and custom chandeliers based on the form of lotus blossoms.
In keeping with the project’s gargantuan nature, a 50-foot-tall glass cable-stayed wall forms the front façade of the vast check-in hall. At almost a kilometer long, it is the largest of its kind ever constructed. This veil of glazing plays an important role in traditional Indian departure rituals: “The head house’s transparent façade allows accompanying well-wishers, who must remain outside of the terminal due to Indian aviation regulations, to watch as their friends and family depart.”
This kind of multifunctional feature is typical of SOM’s approach to the dual design drivers of the brief: To create a highly functional space while also taking the cultural particularities of Mumbai into consideration throughout the project’s conception. But although resolving practical and logistical issues pertaining to the building’s efficiency was paramount, SOM also recognized the client’s desire for a building that would embrace “the heritage of India and the spirit of Mumbai.”
“While functionality guided all of our design decisions, we also knew that the terminal must embody the history and traditions of the region,” Duffy explained. “We carefully and subtly incorporated Indian patterns and textures at all scales. Ultimately, the terminal is as much a celebration of the rich cultural heritage of India and Mumbai as it is an adaptable, functional space.”
Throughout the complex, SOM have successfully walked the line between building performance and cultural symbolism, adapting their renowned use of the international style to respond to the distinctive motives of their client. The succinct combination of these diverging priorities has ultimately led to a completed building that should serve Maharashta’s capital city well for decades to come.
