Navi Mumbai Airport Case Study: Roof, Plan and Construction (Zaha Hadid Architects)

Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) was designed by the London practice Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), which won a 12-week competition for the terminal in March 2018. Terminal 1 was inaugurated on 8 October 2025 and took its first commercial flights on 25 December 2025. Its roof is a field of petal-shaped shells on 12 sculpted feature columns and 17 mega columns, which the architects and the operator describe as drawn from the lotus. Below: brief, site, plan, structure, materials, climate, reception and lessons, with MOA diagrams.

Navi Mumbai International Airport: the facts

Architect: Zaha Hadid Architects, London (Terminal 1, the air traffic control tower and landside access). Project directors Cristiano Ceccato and Filippo Innocenti; project designer Paulo Flores (team as listed by Surfaces Reporter). Engineering: Arup (multidisciplinary engineering for the concept and scheme designs). Contractor: Larsen & Toubro (EPC). Lighting design: Lichtkompetenz and Lum Gallery (as listed by LSI).

Client: Navi Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd (NMIAL), a public-private partnership: Mumbai International Airport Ltd, an Adani Airport Holdings subsidiary, holds 74% and CIDCO 26%. The GVK group led the company when ZHA was appointed; the Adani Group took over in 2021.

Location: Ulwe, Pushpak Node, Panvel taluka, Raigad district, Maharashtra. Codes NMI (IATA) and VANM (ICAO).

Designed and built: competition won March 2018; inaugurated 8 October 2025; commercial flights from 25 December 2025; international flights from 15 July 2026.

Size: site of 1,160 ha. Phase 1: 20 million passengers and 0.5 million tonnes of cargo a year; 90 million passengers a year at full build-out (operator's figures).

Type: greenfield international airport; Terminal 1 is the first of the planned terminals.

Status: in use, operated by the Adani Group.

Who designed Navi Mumbai airport? The brief and the client

The airport is Mumbai's second, built because the existing Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport was running close to its limit. Dezeen (Natasha Levy, 15 March 2018) reported that ZHA won the commission after a 12-week design competition among practices shortlisted by GVK, then the lead partner. The scope was a new passenger terminal and an air traffic control tower. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone a month earlier, on 18 February 2018, and the opening was then planned for 2020.

The project is older than its design. The Adani Group's inauguration release (8 October 2025) dates Union Cabinet approval to 2007. The first environmental and CRZ clearance went to CIDCO on 22 November 2010 and a fresh one on 28 November 2021, according to the operator's compliance report for April to September 2025. Airport Technology records that the GVK-led company won the bid in February 2017, awarded the construction (EPC) contract to L&T in August 2019, and received the site in June 2022.

ZHA designed the terminal. Arup's project page says it partnered with ZHA and provided "multidisciplinary engineering and specialist services" for the concept and scheme designs, and also designed the central plant building. L&T built it: its project page lists Passenger Building 1, the south runway and associated facilities in its initial-phase scope.

Asked about the brief by the Free Press Journal (Dhairya Gajara, February 2025), ZHA director Cristiano Ceccato put function first: the terminal is a working building "with the layout driven by operational requirements". He described three terminals in all, with the third to be "effectively a mirror of Terminal 1".

Site and context: a hill, two rivers and a creek

The site is 1,160 ha at Ulwe, on low ground beside Panvel Creek. Of that, 933.7 ha is airside and 226.3 ha landside, according to the compliance report. It is linked to South Mumbai by the Mumbai Trans Harbour Link (Atal Setu), and ZHA's project page lists metro, suburban rail and ferry links as planned.

Before anything could be built, the land had to be made. The compliance report describes the Ulwe river flowing down from the hills to the south towards the centre of the site, and the Gadhi river, partly retrained, along its north; both drain into Panvel Creek. CIDCO's pre-development works raised the land to +5.5 m above mean sea level and diverted the Ulwe river into a channel, work the report says CIDCO completed in 2019. NMIAL's own scope was to cut the Ulwe hill and fill the site from +5.5 m to an average +8.5 m. The Moodie Davitt Report (Martin Moodie, 2 June 2025) describes a 90 m hill levelled to 8 m and about 2,500 families rehoused.

The same report gives the forest land diverted as 250.06 ha, with 108 ha of compensatory mangrove planting completed at Kolekhar, and says the main drains were designed for 148.1 mm of rain an hour, the 1-in-100-year value recommended by the Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS).

Schematic section of the site preparation: the dashed outline of Ulwe hill, reported as about 90 m high, has been cut away and its rock moved as fill; low-lying land, creeks and the river were first raised to plus 5.5 m above mean sea level by CIDCO, then filled further by NMIAL to an average of plus 8.5 m, with the south runway and terminal on top; at the edge the Ulwe river runs in a diverted channel; notes give drains sized for 148.1 mm of rain an hour and 250.06 ha of forest land diverted — Before the terminal could start, the site was built up: a hill cut down, low ground raised in two stages and the Ulwe river moved to the edge. Heights are exaggerated. Diagram: MOA

Navi Mumbai airport design concept: the lotus

The lotus is how ZHA and the operator explain the building, and it is worth separating what they claim from what the roof does. ZHA's page says the terminal's forms are informed by the lotus, India's national flower, which appears throughout the country's art, architecture and literature. Ceccato told the Free Press Journal that "the lotus flower was the basis of inspiration both for the frontage of the terminals and for the main interior columns". The Adani release says the terminal roof suggests petals and that "the central atrium resembles a lotus pond".

The operator's own article on ACI Asia-Pacific (2 October 2025) goes further, calling the lotus a "guiding structural principle" rather than decoration: the petals became the roof canopies, and the unfolding flower informed the columns. Read against the section below, the lotus explains the shape of the roof shells and the 12 feature columns; it does not explain the 17 mega columns, the concrete frame or the plan, which follow the demands of an airport.

Compare Delhi's Bahá'í House of Worship, where the concrete petals are structure, roof and walls at once (see our Lotus Temple case study). At Navi Mumbai the petals are a roof canopy held up by a separate system of columns, which is why it can read as floating.

Navi Mumbai airport terminal design: plan and zoning

ZHA's drawings are not public in full, so the plan below is MOA's reading of published descriptions, not the layout. Arup describes a headhouse built on a repeating structural grid, with the roof's grid turned 45 degrees to make an open internal area, and piers and boarding bridges of a shared modular design. Surfaces Reporter (13 October 2025), which lists ZHA's team, describes the central atrium as a symbolic pond that anchors the concourses radiating from it. The ACI article says the feature columns also guide passenger movement, so the columns double as wayfinding.

The phasing explains the modular approach. The Adani release gives 20 million passengers and 0.5 million tonnes of cargo a year for the first phase, rising to 90 million passengers. The Moodie Davitt Report gives Terminal 2 at 30 million passengers in 2029 and Terminal 3 in 2032; Ceccato told the Free Press Journal that Terminal 2 was due by 2030. Plans have also grown: Dezeen reported 60 million passengers a year in 2018, the 2025 compliance report still states 60 million as the ultimate capacity under the current clearance, and the operator now gives 90 million. Sources also differ on runways at full build-out: the clearance describes two parallel runways of 3,700 m, while ZHA's page and the Adani release mention four.

Schematic zoning of Navi Mumbai Airport Terminal 1, read from top to bottom: the city side with Atal Setu and the highway, then forecourts and a multi-level car park, then the terminal headhouse with a central atrium described as a lotus pond and feature columns around it under a roof grid turned 45 degrees, then three piers with boarding bridges, the apron and taxiways, and the 3,700 m south runway; a side panel lists Terminal 1 at 20 million passengers a year, Terminal 2 at 30 million in 2029 or by 2030, Terminal 3 as a mirror of Terminal 1 in 2032, a full build-out of 90 million, and 1,160 ha of land split into 933.7 ha airside and 226.3 ha landside — How a passenger moves from the city to the aircraft through Terminal 1, and how the later terminals are meant to follow. Sequence only, not the real layout. Diagram: MOA

Navi Mumbai airport structure: section, roof and columns

The roof rests on two kinds of column. The Adani release and the ACI article give 12 sculptural feature columns and 17 mega columns. The ACI article describes the feature columns as hollowed "to allow daylight to cascade through", and the mega columns as carrying the weight of the canopies over wide spans without columns in the middle of the concourse, which is what lets the roof appear to float. Surfaces Reporter and Parametric Architecture (Isha Chaudhary, 11 October 2025) both give the roof as about 370 m long; neither ZHA's page nor Arup's gives a figure, so treat it as reported.

Arup's page adds the engineering logic. "Branching columns, which can support larger spans than straight columns" made the petal forms possible, and the structure uses "less than 100kg of steel per m2". Mumbai's moderate seismic risk meant the concrete frame and the roof were designed to act together in an earthquake. The ACI article adds that the curved petals were shaped to shed monsoon rain and reduce wind resistance.

Schematic section of the Terminal 1 roof: a run of curved petal-shaped roof shells with skylight strips at the gaps between them, carried by tall straight mega columns, with a hollow flared feature column under one skylight bringing daylight down to the floor; a concrete frame with two floor levels sits below, and curved petals shed monsoon rain at the edge; notes record 12 feature columns, 17 mega columns, a roof grid turned 45 degrees and less than 100 kg of steel per square metre — The roof principle: mega columns carry the petals, hollow feature columns bring light down under the skylights, and the concrete frame below works with the roof in an earthquake. Positions are illustrative. Diagram: MOA

Materials and construction

Speed shaped the construction. Arup describes a fast-track design-and-build contract, with site clearance starting while design was still under way. Its facade is a modular system of prefabricated units, which Arup says sped up installation and improved site safety, and ribbed concrete slabs were used to cut carbon. Arup also reports that the contractor "did not submit a single request for clarification", a claim worth reading as the engineer's own.

The roof combines a steel superframe and prefabricated modular steel roof units with reinforced concrete cores, according to Surfaces Reporter. L&T's page describes the petals as GFRG (glass-fibre reinforced gypsum) and lists 3D design with automated grading, drone surveys and IoT monitoring among its methods. The ACI article says each petal needed bespoke moulds, modular prefabrication and "millimetre-level precision". CNN's report mentions jaali latticework in the interiors.

Light, climate and services

Daylight comes from above. Surfaces Reporter describes continuous skylight strips in the roof petals, "optimized through solar-angle modeling", and the hollow feature columns act as light wells. The lighting design is credited to Lichtkompetenz and Lum Gallery on LSI's project page.

The environmental figures are design claims and commitments, not measured results. The Adani release lists passive cooling, natural light, solar power and rainwater harvesting. The compliance report says Terminal 1 is "in process of getting LEED BD+C V4 Certification" and that a preliminary energy assessment shows savings of more than 20%; Arup's page says the project targets LEED Gold. The same report plans about 15.3 MW of solar power for phases 1 and 2, rising to 22.14 MW at the final phase, and says rainwater harvesting is planned by the final phase. We found no published measured energy or comfort study. For how these ratings work, see our guide to green building certification in India.

Reception: dates, costs and open questions

Coverage at the opening dwelt on the lotus roof; the practical questions concern access, the land works and cost.

Access: CNN's report on the opening (Ayushi Shah, 8 October 2025, via KTVZ) quoted aviation analyst Mark D Martin calling it "a terrific location", while noting that peak-hour trips from South Mumbai could take two hours and there was no direct metro link from the main business districts at launch. He added: "It takes time for an airport to mature."
The rivers: the compliance report says that in August 2024 CIDCO asked CWPRS to model the effect of the diverted Ulwe streams on Panvel Creek, its ecology and nearby settlements, with the report to go to the environment ministry.
Birds: the same report says CIDCO is examining a new site for a planned mangrove park, on the Bombay Natural History Society's advice, away from the flight paths to reduce bird-strike risk.
Cost: figures depend on what is counted. The Adani releases call it a Rs 16,700 crore PPP. The Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's consent of 15 June 2022, reproduced in the compliance report, gives a capital investment of Rs 19,647 crore. The report records Rs 13,278.37 crore spent by NMIAL to 30 September 2025 and Rs 5,429.82 crore by CIDCO on pre-development, land acquisition and rehabilitation.
Dates: L&T's page gives the inauguration as 8 September 2025; the Adani release and ZHA's page date it 8 October 2025. The Adani release of 25 December 2025 records the first commercial arrival, IndiGo 6E460 from Bengaluru. Outlook Business reported the first international service, Air India Express to Abu Dhabi, on 15 July 2026.

What designers in India can take from Navi Mumbai airport

These are our reading, not the architects' claims.

Make the motif carry something. The lotus is most convincing where it does work: hollow columns that bring light down and mark the route. Where a symbol only shapes a surface, a jury will see it. Ask what your concept does structurally or environmentally.
Design the grid for the next phase. A repeating headhouse grid and modular piers let a building grow by repetition. Any campus, hospital or factory built in phases benefits from deciding the grid and the extension edges first.
Site works are design. Here the ground was built up to an average 8.5 m above sea level and a river moved before the terminal began, and the drains were sized for a 100-year storm. On low coastal sites, finished levels and drainage decide whether the building works in July.
Fast-track means prefabrication. Design-and-build on a tight programme pushed the facade and roof into prefabricated units. If your client wants speed, design the parts to be made off site from the start.

Studying it for a thesis? Our case-study documentation guide sets out what to record on a site visit.

Visiting Navi Mumbai International Airport

The terminal is a working airport, so its interior is seen by flying. The official airport website has flight information and a getting-to-the-airport page covering taxis, app cabs, car rental and parking. It publishes no entry arrangement for non-passengers. ZHA's photographs are on its project page.

Want a building that works this hard for its site? Find an architect on MOA.

FAQ

Who designed Navi Mumbai airport?

Zaha Hadid Architects of London designed Terminal 1, the control tower and landside access after winning a 12-week competition in March 2018. Arup provided engineering for the concept and scheme designs, and Larsen & Toubro was the EPC contractor.

Is the Navi Mumbai airport design inspired by the lotus?

Yes, by the architects' and operator's own account. ZHA says the forms are informed by the lotus, the roof shells read as petals, the 12 feature columns are flared like petals and the central atrium is described as a lotus pond.

When did Navi Mumbai airport open?

It was inaugurated on 8 October 2025 (L&T's page says 8 September 2025). Commercial flights began on 25 December 2025, and international flights on 15 July 2026.

What is the capacity of Navi Mumbai airport?

The first phase is designed for 20 million passengers and 0.5 million tonnes of cargo a year, rising to 90 million passengers a year at full build-out, by the operator's figures.

How much did Navi Mumbai airport cost?

The Adani Group calls it a Rs 16,700 crore PPP; the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board's 2022 consent gives a capital investment of Rs 19,647 crore for phases 1 and 2.

Sources

Zaha Hadid Architects: Navi Mumbai International Airport, 9 October 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Adani Group: PM Modi Inaugurates Navi Mumbai International Airport, 8 October 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Adani Group: Chairman Gautam Adani Welcomes First Passengers as Navi Mumbai International Airport Takes Flight, 25 December 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Navi Mumbai International Airport Pvt Ltd: Half Yearly Compliance Report of Environmental and CRZ Clearance, April 2025 to September 2025, with the MPCB consent to establish of 15 June 2022 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Navi Mumbai International Airport: official website and To and from the airport (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Arup: Navi Mumbai International Airport Terminal 1 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
L&T Construction: Navi Mumbai International Airport (NMIA) (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Dezeen, Natasha Levy: Zaha Hadid Architects to design Mumbai's new international airport, 15 March 2018 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Free Press Journal, Dhairya Gajara: FPJ Interview with ZHA's Cristiano Ceccato, February 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
ACI Asia-Pacific and Middle East: The columns of Navi Mumbai International Airport, 2 October 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Surfaces Reporter: Inside Zaha Hadid Architects' Lotus-Inspired Navi Mumbai Airport Terminal, 13 October 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Parametric Architecture, Isha Chaudhary: Navi Mumbai International Airport by ZHA, 11 October 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
The Moodie Davitt Report, Martin Moodie: A giant Lotus blooms as Navi Mumbai Airport takes shape, 2 June 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
CNN, Ayushi Shah, via KTVZ: Flattened hills and diverted rivers: India's new mega-airport opens after decades of delays, 8 October 2025 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Airport Technology: Navi Mumbai International Airport (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
Outlook Business: Navi Mumbai airport starts intl services with AI Express flight to Abu Dhabi, 15 July 2026 (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
LSI: Navi Mumbai International Airport, lighting credits (accessed 11 Nov 2026)