Formerly known as Sahar International Airport, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport (CSIA) is the airport of Mumbai (Bombay) in India. As part of a long-range plan to expand and upgrade the airport facilities within India, CSIA has undergone a number of renovations over the past few years. Among them, CSIA’s Terminal 1A underwent a transformation that features domestic granite from Pokarna Limited of Secunderabad, India.

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport covers an area of 1,450 acres and is located in the Mumbai suburbs of Santa Cruz and Sahar. The airport is India’s biggest International and domestic hub. The owner of the airport is GVK, Airports Authority of India, while the operator is Mumbai International Airport Limited (MIAL). Architects for the arrivals area were Design Cell of Mumbai and Taiyo Membrane India, while the architects for the departures area were Hafeez Contractor and Taiyo Membrane India. “The aim of the design was to create a welcoming, open and vibrant entry point to the airport,” according to a statement from Taiyo Membrane India.

“As part of the Indian government’s initiative of modernizing and restructuring airport infrastructure, the architect was commissioned to give a long overdue facelift and space addition to the Delhi and Mumbai airport terminals,” stated Hafeez Contractor. “Between them, Delhi and Mumbai account for a large quantum of the local air traffic, but the facilities were rundown and undersized.”

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport consists of two terminals: Terminal 1, the domestic terminal and Terminal 2, the international terminal. These two terminals share common airside facilities but are separated physically, with the airport authorities providing shuttle services between the two terminals for connecting passengers.  Terminal 1 is further divided into Terminal 1A and Terminal 1B, with Terminal 1A serving Air India, Alliance Air, Kingfisher Airlines and Go-Air. In this facility, Pokarna Limited provided two distinctive granite varieties in random-sized slabs as well as tiles. “One of the most demanding tasks in architecture is to give new form to what already exists. In this particular case, the objective was not only to renovate and expand existing buildings, but also creating a new image,” stated Hafeez Contractor. “The motivation for the projects was derived from the poetic seduction of airplanes with their aura of speed and dynamism. Appropriately, the architect endeavored to give a forceful character to the form by using strong sinuous lines.”

Pokarna’s Ivory Fantasy granite was supplied in a polished finish as both 2-foot, 1-inch x 3-foot panels and random-sized panels, both with a thickness of 2 cm. Pokarna also supplied Marin Brown in both polished and honed finishes, and the material was cut into random sizes with a 2-cm thickness. In all, Pokarna supplied approximately 135,000 square feet (12,500 square meters) of stone for the project.

Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport has won numerous awards, including “Best Airport in India” and “Best Airport in Public-Private Partnership.”