The new Pre-Certified LEED Platinum Terminal at Bangalore Airport elevates the travel experience with its design inspired by the "Garden City" Heritage of Bengaluru. Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM)  have come together to design this new Terminal 2 at Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (BLR) and welcomed international passengers early this year in 2024.

Image © Ekansh Goel, Studio Recall, courtesy of SOM

Image © Ekansh Goel, Studio Recall, courtesy of SOM

Inspired by Bengaluru the “garden city,” Terminal 2 is a serene multimodal transit hub that elevates the airport experience from a mere transit space to a sensory experience with striking. The 255,000-square-meter terminal increases the airport’s annual passenger capacity by 25 million, is a striking civic gateway that emphasizes Bengaluru’s rich culture and natural landscape. Bangalore Airport has marked its territory as one of the the world's most premier airports, opening doors to many more creative constructions to be built in India, highlighting its culture and heritage. This project transports passengers through a landscaped multimodal transit hub and terminal inspired by Bengaluru’s “garden city” heritage.

Image © Ekansh Goel, Studio Recall, courtesy of SOM

 A 123,000-square-meter multi-modal transit hub in front of Terminal 2, acts as a focal point for the airport and reflects the city of Bengaluru at its best. This T-shaped, two-level space simplifies access to public transit and acts as an outdoor retail, event, and entertainment area for locals and travellers. From this transit hub to the terminal entrance, and extending to the gates, passengers experience a variety of spatial zones merging with lush landscapes, both interior and exterior, overhead and sunken. The design establishes a new design vision for sustainable growth, revitalizing Bengaluru's urban infrastructure. Terminal 2 serves as a new civic square for the city of Bengaluru, a gateway to Bangalore Airport’s international destinations, with a calming oasis within the bustling international airport.

Image © Ekansh Goel, Studio Recall, courtesy of SOM

“We are happy to announce that international operations have begun at Terminal 2 (T2) of Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru. With this move, we are looking forward to serving passengers from different countries and destinations at the new state-of-the-art terminal. While our domestic operations are divided between T1 and T2, international operations will be exclusive to T2. We are committed to serving our passengers with the most innovative processes and customer service that will ease their journey, making it seamless and unforgettable.” said Hari Marar, MD & CEO of Bangalore International Airport Ltd.

Image © Ekansh Goel, Studio Recall, courtesy of SOM

Designed by SOM in collaboration with landscape architects Grant Associates and designers Abu Jani and Sandeep Khosla (AJSK), the airport terminal connects each passenger to nature. The plethora of bridges, lush landscape, and Indigenous flora throughout the multi-level pavilions and the outdoor pathways create an immersive and calming experience. The ceilings have innumerable plantings suspended from the ceiling with light penetrating through the skylights into the terminal. The bamboo materials, custom furnishes, ivory brown granite, umbered red bricks, traditionally woven rattan- all stringing together to create a rich, sensorial experience for the travellers - coined "Terminal in a garden", rightly so in every manner reflecting its textured and varied local landscape. 

Image © Ekansh Goel, Studio Recall, courtesy of SOM

Image © Ekansh Goel, Studio Recall, courtesy of SOM

Catering to the ever-growing travellers number, the Terminal was designed with a form and structure which is efficient and sustainable to be flexible to adapt & accommodate to continued growth. It has been recognized as the largest terminal in the world to be pre-certified as a LEED Platinum building by US Green Building Council (USGBC), and has also received the Indian Green Building Council (IGBC) Platinum certification for its sustainable architecture and design. The abundant vegetation within the terminal utilizes the water harvested on the site and the indoor waterfalls cool the environment of the airport. Apart from the extensive outdoor areas, the terminal encompasses sustainable innovations enabling it to run on renewable energy completely.

Image © Ekansh Goel, Studio Recall, courtesy of SOM

“Right from the inception, the engineering was focused on reduced embodied carbon and designing a structure that maximizes the use of the material sourced and fabricated locally, making it a beacon of the government’s ‘Make in India’ policy,” said Structural Engineering Principal Preetam Biswas.

Image © Ekansh Goel, Studio Recall, courtesy of SOM

All the terminal gates are well equipped to handle single wide-body aircraft for international flights and two narrow-body aircraft for domestic flights. The terminal provides 13 wide-body gates, which can alternate as 28 narrow-body aircraft gates, and expand to 20 wide-body gates in the future, preventing the gates from sitting idle with this adaptable plan. This cements SOM’s second major airport terminal design in India—Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai (2014) and now Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru Terminal 2, designed to thrive as a significant international travel hub in future. 

“Terminal 2 will stand apart from every other airport in the world,” said Design Principal Peter Lefkovits. “The orchestration of every component—both natural and man-made—creates a passenger experience that we hope will set a precedent for the future of airport design.”

Project Facts

Completion Year: 2023

Size Building Gross Area: 380,000 square meters

Passengers: 50000000

Gates: 28

> via SOM

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