Salient Features
Floor area of Terminal Building (approx.):
Level 1 – 12500 sq. mtrs.
Level 2 – 4000 sq. mtrs.
Basement for Services – 6000 sq. mtrs.
Service Block – 1600 sq. mtrs.
Public Facility Block – 500 sq. mtrs.
Maximum Height – 25.5 M
Passenger Handling Capacity – 700 pax at peak hour (500 domestic and 200 international)
Proposed Parking – 320 cars; VIP parking 28 cars, 100 taxis, 10buses
Check-in Counters – 18 nos.
Security Check – 2 (domestic) + 1 (international)
Aero Bridges – 2 nos. (+ 1 no. in future)
Carousel Belts for Baggage Claim – 3 nos. (2 domestic + 1 international)
Inline baggage check-in with 4 levels of checks
The architectural form of the terminal building is a graphic representation of ‘Garuda’ the carrier of Lord Vishnu. This is keeping in view the importance of the city as a religious pilgrimage centre. Tirupati Airport is at a distance of 40kms from the Tirumala temple.
There was an existing airport at Tirupati which handled 1,52,967 domestic passengers in 2006-7. It was the 40th busiest airport of India handling 0.2 per cent of India’s air traffic in the same year. However, since a large number of devotees from all over the world come for pilgrimage to the temple city, owing to the reputation of Lord Venkateshwara fulfilling the devotees’ wishes, a New Integrated Passenger Terminal Building with modern facilities to accommodate both domestic and international traffic was planned by Airport Authority of India. It was a part of the drive for the modernization of the existing airports, addition of non-metro airports, opening up of new international routes, establishment of new airports and restructuring of the existing airports.
The new Terminal Building has three levels and is divided into public concourse, remote departure lounges and contact departure lounges for the international and domestic security holds, remote arrival and contact arrival halls and the baggage claim areas. Three aerobridges and visual Docking guidance to facilitate wide-bodied aircrafts on airside have been planned. The terminal building has been planned in a way that future expansion can be done easily.
Garuda with the head and wings of an eagle and sometimes with the rest of his body like that of a man is carrier of Lord Vishnu and a befitting symbol for the airport at Tirupati due to its association with Lord Venkateshwara and co-relation with the concept of a flight. The wings of the bird in the form of the steel roof sitting lightly on the glass façade are holding up as if in air, nowhere close to the ground. Abstraction of the form has been done to make the structure look very light and contemporary.”
JYOTIMITRA RAGHUVANSH & SUNDEEP KHUSHU, Founding Principals, Aadharshila Consultants
Patron’s Anticipation
The terminal building was to be designed fulfilling the basic norms laid down by Airport Authority of India for a terminal building of this capacity. Since this is an integrated terminal with both domestic and international traffic, it was important to maintain segregation between the two while retaining the openness of the building. The client wanted a building that is contemporary in its outlook with large spans, open plan with large spaces. A lot of daylight streaming into all the areas was also an important requirement.
Design Impression
Since the building is located in the pilgrimage city of Tirupati and a majority of the travellers are expected to be pilgrims visiting the famous Lord Venkateshwara temple, the design team wanted the design of the building to have a contextual relation to this aspect.
Garuda with the head and wings of an eagle and sometimes with the rest of its body like that of a man is carrier of God Vishnu and befitting symbol for the airport at Tirupati due to its association with Lord Venkateshwara and co-relation with the concept of a flight. Abstraction of the form has been done to make the structure look very light and contemporary. In keeping with the inspiration of the design, a canopy is proposed in front of the terminal building on the city side.
Flying Form
The wings of the bird in the form of the steel roof sitting lightly on the glass façade are holding up as if in air, nowhere close to the ground. Full use of the permissible height of the building has been made to highlight this feeling. The roof comprises of five segments, disconnected from each other to allow ingress of light throughout the building and highlight the feeling of lightness in the structure both while viewing the building from outside as well as from inside.
The steel structure has been designed in a way that it hugs the roof closely, enhancing the floating appearance of the roof. The rain water gutters have been planned within the roof structure profile. Interior spaces have been designed in a way that even though the overall volume is very large, individual sections have a human scale to them. Exclusive use of art works like a sculpture, paintings, murals related to the religious character of the place has been done throughout the terminal building providing a unique character to it. Most of these art works have been highly appreciated by the travellers.
Efficient Detailing
Airport terminal buildings are complex structures where functional efficiency, safety and aesthetics are all important parameters for the design. Since terminal buildings are large span structures, special attention has to be paid to the efficiency of the structure. The shape of the roof involved complex geometry and large cantilevered portions, therefore the detailing had to be precise to ensure correct installation at site. Since there is minimal false ceiling at the roof level the structural framework of the roof had to be aesthetically pleasing.
Going Green
The Terminal Building has been designed as an energy efficient and resource conserving building and is due to be rated as a 4 star Green Building under GRIHA. Since the mandate was to design a contemporary looking structure with a lot of day light ingress and openness, this meant use of a lot of glass in the building.
Due to this, a balance had to be struck between use of glass and energy efficiency. This included careful selection of glass, insulation of areas where light transmittance was not needed, use of fenestration and shading. The building enjoys an advantage of orientation as the longer faces aligned with the runway are North/ South facing. The east and west faces have been designed to be less transparent to avoid heat gain into the building
Steel Essence
The core structural frame-work is made of steel and RCC. The structure also includes one basement floor for services making the foundation heavier. The upper part, starting from ground floor upto the topmost point of the building at about 25m from ground, has been designed with a mild-steel structural frame-work to keep the overall look light.
The building is a large span structure with a light-weight double-skin roof on top. These spans are ranging from 23m to 31m to have large column free public spaces. So, to attain these kinds of large spans, without hampering the overall design intent as a lighter building and also ensuring a very stringent and time-effective construction process, structural steel has been used. Autodesk Revit, Auto Cad, STAAD, other MEP design, lighting design & simulation, energy simulation & audit software have been used in this project.