Airports

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport-Mumbai/Bombay(BOM)

The Old Entry currently being used.

 We are talking about the Shri Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport .Superb construction activities  and changes are being made at the airport site.The new building which is being under construction and which is gonna transform INDIA.

Mumbai the city of dreams and the financial capital of India generating half of India's foreign trade with over 20 million people living here it is the Densest City on the Planet. It is located on the western coast of INDIA.The city of Mumbai lies on an Island which just 3 Quarter the size of New York city with more resident than entire State of New York.
It is said tht in 5 years of time it will be goin to surpass China's GDP but India's Infrastructure is crumbling with only 40% of homes having running Water,most of its roads are unpaved and ASIA'S oldest Railway carrying 3 times its capacity.An important catalyst for Mumbai's 195 Billion Dollars resurgents is also in the worst shape.

The New Terminal would be like this(Top View)

Of their 650 daily flights only half of them arrive on time meaning that the city's only airport is in desparate need of an upgrade.It is one of the most complicated Infrastructure project in INDIA'S History by building  a Brand New Airport.Designed by SOM Architects a revolutionary 4 Million Square Foot Terminal topped by the one of the largest roofs in the world.It is designed to handle a 100 more flight a day nearly doubling its capacity to 45 Million travellers each year all built at the same spot of the country's 2nd busiest airport.Its single terminal is one of the largest in the world which maximizes the space with roof unlike any before.
The design of all major airports whether its JFK,Shanghai,etc share one common element they all have an enormous roof under which you check in,goes through security and go to ur gate.Now how u hold tht roof up whether D through columns or huge arches is tht which makes one airport different from another.
In Mumbai the roof which is 17acres in size which means the columns are no ordinary columns the column is known as Mega column.This terminal roof is covered by a skin like thermal plastic membrane spanning more than 10 city blocks to hold up all of 50000 tonnes of it without compromising the space below.

Engineers created 135 foot tall Mega Columns. The single column takes around 3.5 months to complete.
The architects created openness inside the terminal by limiting the no of columns.Typically a roof this large will require 60 mega columns 1 evry 100 ft. instead they added flaired steel caps called  pods to top of each of the mega columns spanning 105 ft out from the centre in either direction.The pods transfer loads laterally and then down each mega column allowing engineers to remove 30 mega columns and create more open space for passengers.

New terminal Building 

Mumbai's ageing airport was build 70 years ago once isolated 23 miles from downtown today its an island in sea of people surrounded with over half a million people residing in the city largest slums called Azad Nagar.
Currently handing a fifth of all the India's air traffic architects have to double the capacity with ideally adding 2nd runway 2 accomodate 36,000 more flight each year not an option with a population of size of MIAMI living around the airport and the biggest constraints of all is the area for building is just 1200 acres whereas Kuala Lumpur has 30000 acres to handle the same capacity of travellers.
So,instead of making 2nd terminal the architects created one innovated structure tht maximizes every inch of space.Most airports are long and stretch upto 1 mile limited to 2100 ft Mumbai's new airport will have 31 gates so architects pinch the terminal on 3 sides creating an extra 700 ft of surface area for more gates this allows them to handle more additional 100 flights each day.For the people to see the all planes they designed an all the glass terminal tht requires workers to build a 1 million sq.ft glass fissard which is the largest ever built near an active runway.Outside the engine sound is about 140db which is louder than a Rock Concert so to minimize sound inside architects added a 2nd layer of glass inside creating a 1/2 ince gap between the panes.This reduces noise to 40db just louder than a whisper.

World class Construction

The New Shri Chhtrapati Shivaji Airport is gonna be the Elite airport in the world.This airport is under construction which is costing a radical 2 Billion USD which will handle over 36,000 more flight a year.
12,000 workers are working to erect this massive terminal with one of the largest roof's ever made held by one of the most complexial structure ever conceived and all this happening near the active runway which is currently being used without cancelling a single flight.It is the most innovated Airport ever built
With the highest % of 1st time fliers in the world leaving Mumbai's Airport it is an big event for the family so for evry 1 person travelling an complete family of around 15 people comes to drop/ say goodbye.
Unable to expand beyond the existing airport's 1800 acres footprints architects designed it and expanded upwards designing a revolutionary membrane roof 190 ft above the ground that creates a Cathedral like 45000 sq.ft departure space by using an incredible structure.Pods are 55 ft tall steel support structure which stretch out laterally to create 24 individual arches.Now by linking all the 30 Maker columns into 1 interconnected steel frame loads can be transferred out and then down to the columns allowing engineers to hold up the entire 15000 tonne roof without compromising open space for the passengers below.
Each POD is an massive 275 tonne structure 14 times heavier than the maximum capacity of the tower crane.

The Arrivals and Departure of New Airport.

The Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport is the only airport not connected by major highway.So to reach the airport fast the engineers built a 6 lane elevated highway above the city is connected to main highway stretching over 2 miles so car can reach the airport in just 20 mins.This Highway is unique because it is just built on a single column which is built to save space below and covers 90 ft area for 6 vehicles to pass.
With 45 Million annual passengers and 750 flights each day laying the infrastructure for a modernizing city tht will change the face of INDIA

This world class airport is being constructed by GVK Infrastructure.

Which is the largest airport in the world?

King Fahd International Airport

King Fahd International Airport, Saudi Arabia 301 square miles which is nearly 10 times bigger than Manhattan.