NEWS ANALYSIS FLAWED BY DESIGN? THE BANGALORE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT WAS RECENTLY PULLED UP FOR ‘FAULTY’ DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION. AR APURVA BOSE DUTTA SPEAKS TO EXPERTS TO GET A PERSPECTIVE ON THE BURNING ISSUE The Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) was recently in the news TD L for all the wrong reasons. A joint legislative committee (JLC) enquiring into the airport’s RPORT ‘faulty’ design and construction termed AI the BIA below global standards. The ONAL I report titled ‘Examination of construction of the Bangalore International Airport’ recommended that the private partners in the consortium for the construction of the airport should be blacklisted and not considered for any work by the government for a minimum of five years owing to the ‘poor quality of workmanship’ that has been shown in the project. : COURTESY BANGALORE INTERNAT It also said that ‘appropriate action’ HS P should be taken against the officers involved in important decisions regarding the project. 1 BIA Ltd is a consortium of Unique Zurich PHOTOGRA Airport, Siemens Project Ventures and Larsen & Toubro (L&T), with the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the Karnataka government as stakeholders. said that they will review the report and architectural detailing needs much more implement its recommendations. attention, most glass roofs are dirty with NOT BY DESIGN water marks visible in many areas, and the The committee listed many flaws starting FUNCTIONAL, BUT... external pedestrian pathways require wider from the design approval stage of the project. Quiz architects on the BIA design and they space and shelter.” Concerns were expressed over the design of agree with the JLC on the design part. But BIA was planned when the existing HAL an ‘industrial shed’ and over the absence of a they also agree that the Bengaluru airport is Airport became inadequate to accommodate structure depicting the culture of Karnataka. fairly functional. the increasing number of passengers. The The report said that the terminal building is “In form and aesthetics, BIA was not well main advantage of HAL was its location, already saturated as it has not been designed researched and did not finish as it ought which was central to Bengaluru, whereas properly. It questions the ‘very premise to have done, for an airport that claims to the BIA is almost 40 km away from Central of the public-private partnership model have international standards. Infrastructure Bengaluru. “In its current location, size on which the airport project was built’ as projects need to be architecturally designed and nature, the HAL airport can no longer the private equity holders are themselves without bowing to a misplaced sense of provide the standard or the infrastructure service providers in BIAL, leading to a case local pride or nostalgia, or looked upon for Bengaluru’s constantly increasing of conflict of interest. The imposition of as a mere engineering problem. It is of aviation demands, but could serve as a user development fee was criticised, and prime importance that the identity of a smaller hub in future,” says Naresh. the report demanded immediate action to consummate metropolis like Bengaluru is Rajeev Chandrashekhar, who quit as a recover Rs 100 crore drawn by BIAL in the established first and used as a standard in BIAL director in 2003, had consistently form of Cenvat concessions. all infrastructure designs around the city,” criticised the monopoly status of the airport The panel also suggested that the said V ‘Naresh’ Narasimhan, the principal authorities. Praful Patel, the Union Minister government should consider the AAI’s architect for Venkataramanan Associates. for Civil Aviation himself, expressed his report to reopen the old HAL airport for Architect Sathya Prakash Varanashi concern and resentment on the design, short-distance flights. And it wanted the new adds to that, “Compared to what I saw at saying it was not comparable to even the airport to be named after Kempegowda, the Singapore or Bangkok ten years ago, BIA Hyderabad airport. Patel still feels that the founder of Bengaluru. seems to be behind time. Functionally, it completion of the second phase would make When contacted, the BIA authorities said may be fairly efficient, it is quite simplified BIAL look much better. 1. Domestic that they have been in constant dialogue for a first-time visitor, as it doesn’t create This project was never a smooth one. The departure lounge of with the JLC and have supported them awe. Yet, let me add that a great opportunity original design went through changes many Bengaluru’s airport. with all the requisite information. They also has been reduced to a glass box. The times, and the launch date was put off thrice 014 ARCHITECT & INTERIORS INDIA | APRIL 2010 | www.itp.com 14_16_ARC_APR10_News Analysis.in14 14 06-04-2010 13:20:49 NEWS ANALYSIS 2 3 4 5 due to controversies, cost over-runs, delays loved to see some efforts to make BIA a and for its clean and well-organised pick-up in setting up air traffic control, etc. After the sustainable project. Every international city area, spacious departure terminal and the airport was functional, there were allegations has more than one airport – look at Chicago, sprawling shopping arena. of inadequate infrastructure facilities, New York, London. Why not use the And are there really any other deviations from the approved design and infrastructure that already exists? Even 100 international airports that reflect their faulty angles of descent. This led to the cars travelling 10km less every month means state’s culture, as desired by the panel? formation of the JLC in September 2008. that much less traffic and less pollution! We Also, in all major cities of the world, The second phase was to be commissioned have to start seeing the bigger picture!” aren’t international airports located in early 2009, but got postponed. a distance away from the city due to WHAT NOW? the large space they need? Maybe the ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS What added more to the confusion was that accessibility of the old HAL airport Factors like the lack of canopy outside the a day after the JLC report went to press, spoiled us all. In fact, the closure of the terminal building, the distance between a Congress member of the panel said that HAL airport has eased down the traffic in escalators and staircases inside, the airport this report had been signed by only seven Indiranagar and the surrounding areas. and runway areas being lower than the out of the 20 committee members and was Whereas BIA has eight aerobridges, nine surrounding areas, have all been topics finalised without informing everyone. He remote bays, 53 check-in counters and of debate. Also, since the area around the wanted the report withdrawn. parking space for 2,000 cars, the HAL 2. Lack of canopy BIA does not attract much precipitation, So, a conclusion is yet to be drawn. BIAL airport didn’t even have a lounge for outside the terminal many architects feel that the project is not is continuing with the second phase of international business class passengers. building has been a sustainable or environment-friendly. the project – the construction of terminal The airport recently received topic of debate. Architect Brinda Kannan, senior partner, building T2. The existing terminal building is the ISO 14001:2004 certification, DKA Architects, who has been involved also going to be expanded to accommodate the internationally-recognised 3. A passenger in designing various airports around the 15 million passengers annually. Besides, a Environmental Management System checking in at the globe adds, “Airports around the world are landscaping plan has been chalked out. (EMS) Standard. Despite being fairly self check-in kiosk. designed to various global and local criteria. Interestingly, BIA was rated as high functional, the design problems do exist Though BIAL has made a decent effort, the as 4.17 on a scale of 1 to 5 in an Airport – and with new international airports 4. Plaza area of the airport does fall short when compared to Service Quality survey – a global dotting the country, the BIA has stiff airport. international airports elsewhere. The project benchmark programme that surveys airport competition. We agree with Kannan: fails to address smaller and more ‘Indian’ performance standards – in the last quarter. “BIAL is a step towards what can be a 5. A passenger aspects of travelling. Today, when the world To be fair, many, including foreigners, great gateway to our city. We just need to availing free Wi-Fi is talking about ‘going green’, I would have have appreciated the airport in their blogs look closer and think harder!” A&I at the airport. 016 ARCHITECT & INTERIORS INDIA | APRIL 2010 | www.itp.com 14_16_ARC_APR10_News Analysis.in16 16 06-04-2010 13:21:37.