Client: Mumbai Airport Lounge Services
Location: Mumbai, India
Completion date: 2014
Artwork budget: $150,000
Project Team
Architect
ABM ARCHITECTS
ABM ARCHITECTS
Architect
Alfaz Miller
ABM ARCHITECTS
Architect
Suryaprakash Makharia
ABM ARCHITECTS
Artist
S H Raza
Overview
Terminal 2 at Mumbai International Airport enjoys the distinction of being a public space with the largest collection of commissioned art in the world. The leveraging of the country’s vibrant wealth of art and craft – canvas paintings, sculptures, blown-glass pieces, wooden artifacts, antiques and other object’s d’art, both contemporary and traditional – offered an effective solution for creating a unique visual brand, one that would additionally give the global traveler a glimpse of India’s rich heritage. The GVK Business Class Lounge is situated on Level 3 and the area of the Lounge is 17,000 sq. ft.
Goals
The mandate from the owners – to make the terminal distinctly Indian in design – birthed this merit. The business class traveller is upwardly mobile, some as young as 30 years old.
The Business Class Lounge has a contemporary design which appeals to a younger age group. The Art is distinctly different and “Hip”. The colors and textures are muted, and the patterns are simpler and geometric.
Process
While artistic intervention – which was done by a consultant with a deep understanding of Art and Fashion – formed one aspect of this endeavor, the other was the integration that would, figuratively speaking, form the backbone of the decor. This is where the Interior Architects stepped in, by ensuring that the manufacturing and installation of these compositions was done correctly and with a certain degree of precision. For this, the team of Architects determined the suitability of materials that went into each installation, created drawings and full-scale mock-ups to determine the stability of each arrangement, before the actual installation.
The interior scheme is articulated as a mature color palette of grays, tans and silver. The ethnic connection continues with the inclusion of an important architectural element: the jaali (Screen). But here, the traditional fret-work is rendered as a modern lattice, its pattern inspired by the Google map of India’s commercial capital, Mumbai. These screens delineate and segregate various functions such as the dining and bar areas; the relaxation and reading areas; and the spa.
Additional Information
The GVK Business Class Lounge by TFS and Performa, has been selected as the 'Asia's Leading Airport Lounge' at the Asia leg of the World Travel Awards held in Hongkong in 2015.