Hasta La Ideas

The concrete cells of the canopy spanning this new airport terminal in Mumbai was designed by American firm SOM to reference both the open-air pavilions of traditional Indian architecture and the arrangement of feathers in a peacock’s tail (+ slideshow).

The new 40-hectare terminal at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport will accommodate 40 million passengers a year for both international and domestic flights, and was designed by SOM to adopt the styles and motifs of the regional vernacular.

“We designed an airport that is intimately connected to its surroundings,” said SOM partner Roger Duffy. “By subtly incorporating regional patterns and textures at all scales, Terminal 2 resonates with a sense of place and serves as a spectacular symbol for India and Mumbai.”

The check-in hall is located on the upper level of the four-storey terminal, directly beneath the perforated concrete ceiling. This canopy is supported by 30 tapered columns that are punctured with similar recesses, creating a decorative pattern of openings that are infilled with coloured glazing to allow light to filter through the space.

“The monumental spaces created beneath the 30 mushrooming columns call to mind the airy pavilions and interior courtyards of traditional regional architecture,” said the design team.

“The constellation of colours makes reference to the peacock, the national bird of India, and the symbol of the airport,” they added.

A 900-metre long glass wall with a gridded cable frame provides the hall’s facade. The decorative canopy extends beyond the walls to offer protection from both intense heat and monsoons, but also creates an area where Indian departure ceremonies can take place.

The rest of the terminal is laid out with an X-shaped plan, where modular concourses radiate outwards from the central core to minimise walking distances to boarding gates.

Floor-to-ceiling glazing offer passengers the opportunity to watch planes arriving and departing, while patterned jali screens help light to filter gently through the spaces.

Photography is by Robert Polidori, apart from where otherwise stated.

Here’s a project description from SOM:

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Terminal 2

Ten years ago, Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport welcomed six million passengers per year through its gates; today it serves nearly five times that number. With the city’s emergence as India’s financial capital and the country’s rapidly expanding and economically mobile middle class, the existing airport infrastructure proved unable to support the growing volume of domestic and global traffic, resulting in frequent delays. By orchestrating the complex web of passengers and planes into a design that feels intuitive and responds to the region’s rocketing growth, the new Terminal 2 asserts the airport’s place as a preeminent gateway to India.

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Terminal 2 adds 4.4 million square feet of new space to accommodate 40 million passengers per year, operating 24 hours a day. The terminal combines international and domestic passenger services under one roof, optimizing terminal operations and reducing passenger walking distances. Inspired by the form of traditional Indian pavilions, the new four-story terminal stacks a grand “headhouse”, or central processing podium, on top of highly adaptable and modular concourses below. Rather than compartmentalising terminal functions, all concourses radiate outwards from a central processing core and are therefore easily reconfigured to “swing” between serving domestic flights or international flights.

But just as the terminal celebrates a new global, high-tech identity for Mumbai, the structure is imbued with responses to the local setting, history, and culture. Gracious curbside drop-off zones designed for large parties of accompanying well-wishers accommodate traditional Indian arrival and departure ceremonies. Regional patterns and textures are subtly integrated into the terminal’s architecture at all scales. From the articulated coffered treatment on the headhouse columns and roof surfaces to the intricate jali window screens that filter dappled light into the concourses, Terminal 2 demonstrates the potential for a modern airport to view tradition anew.

A Gateway to India

All international and domestic passengers enter the terminal headhouse on the fourth floor, accessed from a sweeping elevated road. At the entrance, the lanes split, making room for wide drop-off curbs with ample space for traditional Indian departure ceremonies. From the moment of arrival, the terminal embraces travellers. Above, the headhouse roof extends to cover the entire arrivals roadway, protecting passengers and their guests from Mumbai’s heat and unpredictable monsoon weather. A 50-foot-tall glass cable-stayed wall – the longest in the world – opens to the soaring space of the check-in hall. The transparent facade also allows accompanying well-wishers, who must remain outside of the terminal due to Indian aviation regulations, to watch as their friends and family depart.

Once inside, travellers enter a warm, light-filled chamber, sheltered underneath a long-span roof supported by an array of multi-storey columns. The monumental spaces created beneath the thirty mushrooming columns call to mind the airy pavilions and interior courtyards of traditional regional architecture. Small disks of colourful glass recessed within the canopy’s coffers speckle the hall below with light. The constellation of colours makes reference to the peacock, the national bird of India, and the symbol of the airport.

The check-in hall leads to a retail hub – a common space that allows passengers to shop, eat, and watch planes take off though expansive, floor-to-ceiling windows. Centrally located at the junction of the concourses and the terminal core, these commercial plazas provide a focal point of activity in close proximity to the gates. Within these spaces and throughout the concourses, culturally referential fixtures and details, such as custom chandeliers inspired by the lotus flower and traditional mirror mosaic work created by local artists, ground the traveler to a community and culture beyond the airport. Regional artwork and artifacts are displayed on a central, multi-storey Art Wall, illuminated by skylights above. The prevalence of local art and culture, coupled with the use of warm colours and elegant accents, elevates the ambience of terminal beyond the typical, often unimaginative airport experience.

Although the terminal is four storeys, interconnecting light slots and multi-storey light wells ensure that light penetrates into the lower floors of the building, acting as a constant reminder of the surrounding city and landscape. At dusk, illuminated from within, the terminal glows like a sculpted chandelier.

A Flexible Footprint

The construction site of the new terminal building was located in close proximity to the existing terminal which had to remain fully operational during construction. This site requirement inspired the elongated X-shaped plan of the terminal, which could both mould around existing structures and incorporate modular designs to accommodate rapid and phased construction. This innovative form also allows for the consolidation of important passenger processing, baggage handling, and retail/dining functions at the centre of the terminal. On each floor, radiating piers permit the shortest possible walking distances from the centre of the terminal to boarding areas, while also maximising the terminal’s perimeter for aircraft gates.

The terminal’s roof – one of the largest in the world without an expansion joint – ensures further terminal flexibility. The long-span capabilities of the steel truss structure allow for the spacing of the thirty 130-foot columns to be far enough apart to not only give a feeling of openness to the large processing areas below but also to allow for maximum flexibility in the arrangement of ticket counters and other necessary processing facilities.

A Hub of Energy Efficiency

Terminal 2 uses a high-performance glazing system with a custom frit pattern to achieve optimal thermal performance and mitigate glare. Perforated metal panels on the terminal’s curtain wall filter the low western and eastern sun angles, creating a comfortable day-lit space for waiting passengers, and responsive daylight controls balance outdoor and indoor light levels for optimal energy savings. Strategically-placed skylights throughout the check-in hall will reduce the terminal’s energy usage by 23%.

At Terminal 2, modern materials and technologies are used to powerful effect. But while cutting-edge strategies set a new standard for sustainable, modern airport design, the terminal is as much a showpiece of the history and traditions of India and Mumbai as it is an unprecedented structural and technological achievement. Rising from the Mumbai cityscape, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport celebrates both India’s rich cultural heritage and the country’s increasingly global future.

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with coffered concrete canopy appeared first on Dezeen.

News: American firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has revealed designs for a skyscraper in Jakarta that will be over 500 metres high and will harvest wind energy through an opening at its peak.

With a proposed height of approximately 530 metres, the Pertamina Energy Tower will be twice as high as Wisma 46, currently the tallest building in Indonesia, and will feature an integrated “wind funnel” that generates energy from prevailing air currents.

SOM designed the building as a headquarters for state-owned oil and gas corporation Pertamina and it will be constructed as part of a proposed campus that also includes a mosque, a performing arts and exhibition centre, sports facilities and an energy plant.

The exterior of the tower will be glazed and will gently taper towards the top to frame the opening of the wind funnel. This curved facade will feature solar shades to allow natural light to enter, without the problems of solar heat gain.

“Pertamina Energy Tower’s iconic presence will stand as a model of sustainability and efficiency, as well as collaborative workplace design,” said SOM director Scott Duncan.

“The headquarters’ performance-driven design supports and reflects the ambition of Pertamina’s mission and forges an innovative model of green development in Jakarta.”

The building is scheduled for completion in 2020 in Jakarta’s Rasuna Epicentrum neighbourhood and will accommodate up to 20,000 Pertamina employees.

It is the latest in a string of skyscrapers proposed recently for the Indonesian capital, including a 400-metre structure designed by MVRDV to look like a pile of buildings.

More information from SOM is included below:

Pertamina reveals plans for SOM-designed tower in Jakarta

Plans were unveiled on Monday for Pertamina Energy Tower, a highly sustainable corporate headquarters in Jakarta, designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM), the renowned architecture, engineering, interiors and planning firm. Created for the state-owned energy company, Pertamina, the large-scale project will feature a performing arts and exhibition pavilion, a mosque, and a central energy plant in addition to the office tower. Rising more than 500 metres above Jakarta, the tower will be a new landmark on the capitol’s skyline.

The architectural expression of Pertamina Energy Tower reinforces the sustainable strategies at the core of its design. Gently tapering towards a rounded top, the tower opens up at the crown, revealing a ‘wind funnel’ that will take advantage of the prevailing winds and increased wind speeds at the upper floors to generate energy. Precisely calibrated for Jakarta’s proximity to the equator, the tower’s curved facade will mitigate solar heat gain throughout the year. Exterior sun shades will dramatically improve the workplace environment and save energy by reducing the need for artificial lighting in the office interiors.

The 99-story tower will accommodate 20,000 employees and will be the centrepiece of the Pertamina campus in Jakarta’s Rasuna Epicentrum neighbourhood. Conceived as a city within a city, the campus design endeavours to create a new model for a corporate headquarters – one that is more like a bustling city – with vibrant public spaces and communal meeting areas, such as a 2,000-seat auditorium for lectures and performances and a public mosque. A central energy plant will serve as the energy production hub for the campus, a literal and figurative “heart” from which energy and services will be distributed. A covered walkway known as the “Energy Ribbon” will knit together the constellation of campus programs and span across land bridges and gardens to create an array of accessible public spaces. The project is slated for completion in 2020.

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that will harness wind power appeared first on Dezeen.

News: Burj Khalifa architect Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) has added another skyscraper to the Dubai skyline with the completion of the twisted Cayan Tower.

The 307-metre skyscraper, previously known as the Infinity Tower, contains 495 apartments within a towering helical form that rotates 90 degrees from base to peak. “The lower portion of the tower is oriented toward the exciting waterfront promenade of Dubai Marina, while the upper floors are rotated to face the Gulf,” explains SOM‘s design director Ross Wimer.

The twisted profile aims to reduce powerful wind forces on the tower by dispersing them around the exterior, while the perforated metal skin is designed to screen the interior from harsh desert sunlight.

This is the third skyscraper completed by SOM in the emirate city, following the 828-metre Burj Khalifa and the 235-metre Rolex Tower.

“Cayan Tower adds to SOM’s significant impact on Dubai’s twenty-first century skyline,” comments SOM partner George Efstathiou. “It takes its place with our finest designs, including the nearby Rolex Tower and Burj Khalifa.”

SOM is one of the largest architecture firms in the world. Recent projects include a vision for the future of New York’s Pennsylvania Station and plans for Singapore’s tallest tower.

See more architecture by SOM »
See more skyscrapers on Dezeen »

Photography is by Tim Griffith/SOM.

Here’s a press release from SOM:

SOM’s Cayan (formerly Infinity) Tower opens

The Skidmore Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM)-designed Cayan (formerly Infinity) Tower in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, was inaugurated by its developer, Saudi Arabia-based Cayan Investment & Development, earlier this week. The dramatically rising helix of the 75-storey building provides a distinctive landmark on the city’s skyline. The 1,010-feet (307-metres) tall reinforced concrete structure rotates a hexagonal floor plate around a circular core – with the top offset 90 degrees from the base. The shift maximises views for each of the 495 apartments.

Deep concrete exterior columns clad in a metal skin with perforated screens help shield the building’s interior from the intense desert sun. The tower’s innovative shape required equally innovative engineering. The corner and interior columns twist as they ascend, but most of the perimeter columns have an identical shape and tilted relationship to the floor plate. They are simply shifted, a bit more than a single degree, from floor to floor – resulting in a standardised construction method typical to most concrete structures. Mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems are located in the core or within a zone between the central circulation corridor and the residential units, allowing straight vertical paths for these systems as the relationship between the apartments served varies between floors. The shape of the tower is not only aesthetically unique but it serves a structural function as well. Its twisted shape greatly reduces wind forces on the tower and “confuses the wind” in a way that wind forces cannot organise themselves.

Cayan Group President and Chairman Ahmed M Al Hatti notes Cayan Tower is the highest twisted tower in the entire world.

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in Dubai appeared first on Dezeen.

News: American firm SOM has unveiled plans to build Singapore’s tallest tower as part of a mixed-use development in the Tanjong Pagar business district.

SOM’s 64-storey, 290-metre tower will be positioned on the eastern part of the Tanjong Pagar Centre site, and will contain offices on its lower floors and luxury apartments above.

A smaller tower alongside it will accommodate a business hotel with its own restaurants and conference centre as well as a pool overlooking the redesigned Tanjong Pagar City Park.

An additional six-storey building will provide a car park, shops, restaurants and entertainment as well as an area for public art and outdoor performances.

SOM is the architectural practice behind the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The firm recently proposed a floating observation deck over Grand Central Station in New York and a tower with triangular facets in Seoul – see all architecture by SOM.

Elsewhere in Singapore,the Gardens by the Bay tropical garden was named World Building of the Year at last year’s World Architecture Festival, where Dezeen filmed an interview with architect Chris Wilkinson about the project – see all architecture in Singapore.

Here’s some more information from SOM:

Tanjong Pagar Centre
Singapore, Singapore

Positioned as a premier quality business and lifestyle hub, the 1.7-million-gross-square-foot Tanjong Pagar Centre will provide a mix of uses, comprising office, residential, retail and hospitality, in Singapore’s historic Tanjong Pagar central business district. The development will be a significant contribution to the evolving skyline of Singapore and will become a landmark destination, serving as a gateway to the future waterfront city.

The centerpiece of the project will be a re-designed Tanjong Pagar City Park to create unique public spaces that provide activity and open space to visitors. In line with the Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority’s mission to create lively and attractive public places, protected and useful outdoor gathering spaces and sustainable urban environments, Tanjong Pagar Centre will set the standard for sustainable, livable development in Singapore for generations to come.

Located on the eastern half of the site, the mixed-use office and residential tower will feature Grade-A office space with luxury residential units above. This tower will be the tallest building in Singapore.

The free-standing mid-rise tower to the west will accommodate the luxury business hotel and its amenities, including restaurants, a conference centre, gym and pool deck overlooking the Tanjong Pagar City Park.

The six-storey podium will provide multiple levels of car parking, retail, restaurants, and entertainment, as well as the hotel, office, and residential lobby and amenities level. A large public component includes a “city room” which will feature public art and outdoor performance areas, ground-level retail, and an underground pedestrian network that will connect to the existing MRT station.

Project Completion Year: 2016
Design Completion Year: 2012
Project Area: 1,700,000 sq ft
Number of Stories: 64
Building Height: 290 m

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tallest tower appeared first on Dezeen.

News: while Foster + Partners think simply increasing capacity is the way to improve New York’s Grand Central Terminal, architecture firm SOM has proposed adding a floating observation deck that slides up and down the sides of two new skyscrapers (+ slideshow).

The moving deck is one of several public realm strategies that the firm is promoting for the 100-year-old station, following an invitation from the Municipal Art Society of New York to re-think the spaces in and around the building.

SOM suggests that the hovering deck would would improve the quality of the public space around the building by offering an “iconic landmark” with a 360-degree panorama of the city skyline.

“Throughout the history of New York City, urban growth has been matched by grand civic gestures,” said SOM partner Roger Duffy.

The doughnut-shaped structure would be attached to the sides of two new office towers, which would fit in with the current rezoning proposals of the New York City planning department designating it as a commercial area.

The plans also include new pedestrian routes to help ease congestion, as well as a series of public spaces that are privately owned and managed.

SOM and Foster + Partners both presented their proposals last week at the third annual MAS Summit for New York City, alongside American firm WXY Architecture.

See Foster + Partners’ proposals in our earlier story.

See more stories about stations »

See more projects by SOM »

Here’s some more information from SOM:

SOM presents vision for Grand Central’s next 100 years

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP (SOM) presented its vision for “Grand Central’s Next 100″ at the Municipal Art Society of New York’s third annual Summit for New York City. Led by partners Roger Duffy, FAIA, and T.J. Gottesdiener, FAIA, SOM’s design transforms the public spaces around Grand Central Terminal, creating new pedestrian corridors for increased circulation and visualizing innovative options for new public amenities.

The Municipal Art Society (MAS) challenged SOM to re-think the public spaces in and around Grand Central Terminal in celebration of the landmark’s centennial. The design challenge coincides with a rezoning proposal from the New York City Department of City Planning, which, if approved, would allow the development of new office towers in the area around Grand Central, thereby increasing the density around the station exponentially.

The proposed zoning would also require developers to donate to a fund that would make improvements to the infrastructure in the area, including additional access points to the subway platforms and a pedestrian mall on Vanderbilt Avenue. Along with Foster + Partners and WXY Architecture + Urban Design, SOM was one of three architecture firms invited by MAS to present ideas about the future of Grand Central Terminal’s public realm.

SOM’s vision proposes three solutions, all of which provide improvements – both quantitative and qualitative – to the quality of public space around the station. The first solution alleviates pedestrian congestion at street level by restructuring Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) to create pedestrian corridors through multiple city blocks, connecting Grand Central to nearby urban attractors.

The second is a condensing of the public realm through the creation of additional levels of public space that exist both above and below the existing spaces. These new strata would be funded privately but under public ownership – Privately Funded Public Space (PFPS).

The third proposal creates an active, 24-hour precinct around Grand Central Terminal in the form of an iconic circular pedestrian observation deck, suspended above Grand Central, which reveals a full, 360-degree panorama of the city. This grand public space moves vertically, bringing people from the cornice of Grand Central to the pinnacle of New York City’s skyline. It is a gesture at the scale of the city that acts both as a spectacular experience as well as an iconic landmark and a symbol of a 21st-century New York City.

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over Grand Central Terminal appeared first on Dezeen.