2018 . Apoorv Tomar
Flip-dot displays have a nostalgic association with airport industry. When air travel was just becoming the preferred mode of travelling, airports were adorned by flip-dot displays to display schedules to passengers. Their distinct clattering sound would make the passengers aware of change in scheduled. When these displays were replaced by LED screen, their sound was sorely missed.
We intend to use Flip-dot kinetic displays for visualisation on the structure’s surface. Unlike energy consuming self-illuminated displays, flip- dot displays use ambient light and contrast to display information. This not only make them extremely energy efficient, but also visible in direct sunlight.
Working
As vehicles move around the round about, the structure senses their movement and absorbs momentum as motion. The movement collects into a cohesive perpetual motion.
Unique to every vehicle, this movement is depicted with application of physics and gravity of the centre. The movement perpetually revolves in the structure till it fades away in the center.
However this collective motion is not apparent to people in the vehicles directly, instead it is perceived as a whole.
Concept and details
Real time flight data will kinetise the perpetual momentum. With the real time flight data, shape of the structure gets transformed and as a result affects the collective experience.
The whole is rendered as a reflection. Distinct layers and facets are revealed as the visitor interacts with the round about.
Being a reflection, every visitor gets their own impression of it.
Utilising air traffic and flight data as real time feed
Sensing vehicle movement and traffic at the roundabout
We intended to use traffic, sensor and realtime flight data to make the structure a witness of growth rather than imposing a point-of-view.
Data driven
We understood, for progress to be sustainable we need to look at growth holistically. Progress is not a terminal state, it is a continuous process, so the structure cannot be represented just as a static end-state. One cannot predict where progress takes us, we need to celebrate its conversation with present.
Approach and directions
Initial form explorations
The proposed site also offered an interesting play of movement and space. While entering towards the airport, its gradual slope revealed the roundabout and naturally created a picturesque atmosphere. We looked at the ‘time’ spent by a commuter while passing through the roundabout as an interesting medium to convey its meaning.
Thereupon looking at the temporal character of the site, the circulation of passengers could also create duality in its form and content. As the passenger moves around the structure, it could reveal distinct layers and facets of its meaning. This interesting play of perspective, we thought could be achieved by a unique design form that can be viewed at various points from different perspectives manifesting a transformation.
Duality in form and content
The airport being a transitional space bridges the gap between exterior and interior of the city. The transition of people from outside, through an overlap of region and culture, to a common destination defined as inside, creates a natural connection between an individual and the city.
The city breathes with passengers coming in and out and their movement symbolises its growth. The roundabout is a witness of that growth with every vehicle that passes it. With this insight, we asked ourself — What if we could harness the energy behind this growth to bring about interesting outcomes?
Movement and transition
An airport in a city shares a symbiotic relationship with the people who belong to it — the influencers, the movers and shakers, the elite as well as the common man.
The sire proposed by BIAL was a central roundabout space on a 4 km long approach road of the airport.
Airports are gateways to the city
Bangalore International Airport under construction.
Separated pieces of the whole
Bangalore’s International Airport attempted to find the right balance amongst its divergence by inviting designers and architects to articulate their vision of being a symbol of sustainable progress in a visual language and let the city know their beliefs and values through this physical manifestation.
*This is a concept proposal conceived at Moonraft as a response to their view and purpose of building an iconic structure.
Bangalore is a city that is defined by its physique. Blessed with a benevolent climate, it is also known for its vibrant, young and cosmopolitan culture. With a recent spate of modernisation, it is increasingly being known as being India’s Silicon Valley. Bangalore therefore is symbolic of the new, progressive face of India to the world.
But this progress has come at a cost and in the view of the city at the loss of its natural beauty and appeal. Bangalore today, is a city that is grappling with the dichotomy of Tradition vs Technology, Green vs Pollution, Laid-back vs Progressive.
In conversations with the city