Mumbai Airport Terminal 2 Case Study: Roof, Columns and Plan (SOM)

Terminal 2 at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in Mumbai was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) and built by Larsen & Toubro for Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL). It was inaugurated on 10 January 2014 and took its first international flights on 12 February 2014. It is a four-level terminal that stacks departures over arrivals on a tight city site, under one long-span roof carried by 30 columns that flare into a coffered ceiling. Below: the brief, site, plan, section, structure, construction, light, the art programme, reception and lessons, with MOA diagrams.

Mumbai airport Terminal 2 architect and client: the brief

The airport was renamed from Sahar to Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in the 1990s (Scroll gives 1995) and became Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport on 30 August 2018, when the civil aviation minister announced the change, as Scroll reported. Before T2 it ran three domestic terminals at Santacruz and two international ones at Sahar, says MIAL's master plan page.

MIAL took over the airport in February 2006 with a mandate to modernise it. The new terminal was to be a single integrated building for domestic and international passengers, sized for 40 million passengers a year, with new taxiways and aprons. Airport-technology.com dates the start of construction to 2008.

SOM, the Chicago-founded practice behind our Burj Khalifa case study, was the design architect and also the structural and MEP engineer, with L&T as architect and engineer of record, according to the team list published by BD+C (March 2014). Credits on Architectures (Jidipi) add Laura Ettelman (project director), Charles Besjak (structural director) and Preetam Biswas (structural engineer) at SOM.

Site and context: a terminal built inside a working airport

The new terminal had to go up on the Sahar side next to the old international terminal, which stayed open throughout. SOM's 2014 inauguration release says the site's closeness to the existing terminal shaped the plan, which wraps around existing structures so the building could be built in phases. On SOM's project page, the old terminal was demolished progressively as the new one opened, and the site is given as 105 hectares.

Land was the operator's main constraint. G V Sanjay Reddy of GVK told Construction World (February 2014) that "the biggest challenge" was the land constraint at the airport. Open magazine (Lhendup G Bhutia, January 2014) reported, quoting an MIAL official, that 1,400 acres were made available against 2,000 promised, and linked that shortfall to the decision to build upwards.

Concept and design ideas: a pavilion, a peacock and regional pattern

SOM describes the terminal as inspired by traditional Indian pavilions: a central processing hall, the "headhouse", sits on top of modular concourses below. Roger Duffy, SOM's design partner, said in the 2014 release that the building works by "subtly incorporating regional patterns and textures at all scales". Three ideas carry that through:

• The peacock. Small coloured glass discs are recessed in the roof coffers and speckle the hall with light. SOM says the colours refer to the peacock, India's national bird and the airport's symbol.
• The coffer as a repeated module. The same coffered surface covers the roof and runs down the columns, so ceiling and structure read as one pattern.
• The jali. SOM describes jali window screens that filter dappled light into the concourses.

Mumbai airport Terminal 2 plan and zoning: the X and the stacked terminal

Seen from above, T2 is an elongated X. SOM's project page puts retail, dining and a large baggage handling system at the centre of the X, with concourses spreading out to "maximize the number of aircraft gates". Post-security areas can switch between domestic and international use as demand changes, which is how one building serves both. Sources count the arms differently: SOM's 2014 release speaks of three symmetrical concourses radiating from the core, while its current page says four concourses.

Four levels, one entry

Instead of spreading departures and arrivals side by side, T2 stacks them. Airport-technology.com gives level 1 as ground transportation, level 2 as arrivals, level 3 as retail and domestic security, and level 4 as common check-in, international security and retail.

All passengers enter the headhouse on the fourth floor from an elevated road, says SOM's release. MIAL's master plan page describes a six-lane elevated expressway to the terminal and a multi-level car park for 5,000 cars (5,200 at peak by later reports). SOM adds that the lanes split at the entrance to make room for wide drop-off kerbs, which SOM says accommodate traditional departure ceremonies.

The diagram shows zoning only. SOM's drawings are on its project page; MOA has not redrawn them. If you are documenting an airport for a studio, our field checklist for an architecture case study covers what to note on a visit.

Section and structure: one roof on 30 columns

The structural idea is simple to state. A single steel roof of about 70,000 sq m covers the check-in hall and is, in SOM's words, "one of the world's largest roofs without an expansion joint". It rests on 30 mega-columns spaced 64 m north-south and 34 m east-west. Trusses on orthogonal and 45-degree grids let the roof cantilever 40 m at the perimeter against sun and monsoon rain (SOM project page).

The mega-columns

Construction World describes the columns as unbraced, concrete-encased steel: a cruciform steel core of 2.3 m by 2.3 m inside a concrete casing 2.7 m in diameter, each rising 40 m and carrying about 2,000 tonnes. SOM's 2014 release calls them 130-foot columns, which agrees. A Siemens case study says SOM ran nonlinear buckling analyses on them because design codes do not match their behaviour closely.

The roof

The Siemens study gives the long-span truss a depth of about four metres. Construction World says the roof is built from 30 diamond-shaped steel "pods", one per column, each of 4,200 to 4,500 steel elements weighing 250 tonnes and needing over 10,000 bolts. It gives the truss area as about 11 acres, smaller than SOM's 70,000 sq m (about 17 acres); the difference may be what each counts as roof, but neither source explains it.

The cable wall

The kerb face of the check-in hall is a cable-stayed glass wall about 15 m (50 ft) tall, which SOM describes as the longest of its kind in the world. That is the designers' description; we found no independent comparison.

Materials and construction: building beside a live terminal

Columns as hoists

The most quoted construction fact is that "the columns were designed to serve as hoist mechanisms so the entire roof could be constructed without tower cranes" (SOM project page). Construction World's account adds detail and a slight difference: it says the headhouse steel was erected with a special launching mechanism because space was limited, and that cranes of 500-tonne capacity were used to erect steel. The sources do not say which steel went up which way.

Phasing and demolition

The X shape is partly a construction answer: it let the new terminal wrap around buildings that were still in use, and SOM's page says the old terminal was demolished progressively as new parts opened. Construction World reports about 18,000 workers on site and a build of four years.

The coffers

The ceiling is made of glass fibre reinforced gypsum (GFRG) by Formglas. Its project page lists 3,055 standard coffers of 2.8 m by 2.7 m, 1,249 coffer caps and 326 perimeter coffers, made from close to 500 moulds cut on in-house five-axis CNC machines. Each column capital is 7 m tall and assembled from 320 pieces. The coffers were hung with 10 mm joints, and Formglas notes that in some places those joints also act as expansion joints.

Light, climate and services

Daylight is brought in from the top and filtered at the sides. According to SOM's 2014 release:

• skylights in the check-in hall were expected to cut the terminal's energy use by 23 percent, a design projection, not a measured figure;
• light slots and multi-storey light wells carry daylight to the lower floors;
• fritted glazing controls heat and glare, and perforated metal panels cut low eastern and western sun.

At night, Formglas says, the dichroic lenses set into the coffers around the column capitals are lit from a sealed space above, so the pattern reads by day and by night. The terminal is listed as LEED Gold certified (New Construction) on SOM's page and by airport-technology.com; we did not check the certificate in the USGBC directory. For how LEED compares with GRIHA and IGBC in India, see our green building certification guide.

The art programme: from Jaya He to ArtBeat of New India

T2 opened with an art programme built into its walls. Apollo (Louise Nicholson, 15 February 2014) credits Rajeev Sethi with conceiving it; with Sanjay Reddy of GVK he spent two years collecting historic works and commissioning new ones. The centrepiece was an art wall four floors high and over 3 km long. At the opening, The Moodie Davitt Report reported GVK calling it India's largest public art programme, with over 7,000 artworks and artefacts. Today the operator calls it the ArtBeat of New India Museum: its 2025 fact sheet gives a 3.2 km corridor across the departure and arrival areas, more than 200,000 sq ft, over 5,500 artefacts and more than 100 installations, open to passengers around the clock.

For designers, the point is architectural: SOM's 2014 release describes the art wall as a central, multi-storey wall lit by skylights, so the gallery was part of the building's design, not added afterwards.

Reception: awards, cost and criticism

SOM's page lists an Airports and Transportation award from Architype Review (2012), the ASCE Architectural Engineering Institute's OCEA award (2016) and an AIA Institute Honor Award for Architecture (2020). Airport-technology.com adds a Chicago Athenaeum American Architecture Award in 2012. In Apollo, Louise Nicholson called T2 probably the world's most art-filled airport.

The project also drew criticism, mostly about money and time rather than design. Outlook Business (1 February 2014) reported a 32 percent cost escalation, noted that the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority had rejected the consortium's request for higher development fees in 2012, and listed the resettlement of slums on airport land among the open issues.

The building has carried a heavy load. The operator's tenth-anniversary release (February 2024) says T2 handled 12 million passengers in its first year and 31 million in calendar year 2023, against a design capacity of 40 million.

Mumbai airport Terminal 2 status today

T2 began as the international terminal and took domestic flights in stages. Air India moved its domestic operations from Terminal 1A to T2 on 1 October 2015, part of MIAL's phased plan to bring domestic carriers into T2, as DeshGujarat reported. In January 2025, the operator announced in an Adani media release that Terminal 1 would be demolished from November 2025 and rebuilt by 2028-29, with T2 and the new Navi Mumbai International Airport absorbing traffic in the meantime.

What designers in India can take from T2

This is our reading, not the architects' claims:

1. A small kit of parts can make a rich surface. More than 4,000 coffers came from about 500 moulds. One module with a few variants, carried down the columns, gave a crafted ceiling at industrial scale; the same logic suits a jaali facade or precast ceiling.
2. On a brownfield site, design the construction sequence with the plan. The X shape exists partly because it could be built around a terminal that never closed. Drawing the phases early is a design task.
3. Let the structure help build itself. Using the permanent columns as hoists removed the need for tower cranes on a congested site.
4. Treat the roof edge as climate control. The 40 m cantilever shelters the kerb from sun and monsoon rain, where Mumbai passengers and their families actually wait. Check any energy savings you quote: T2's 23 percent figure was a design expectation.

Airports are a common thesis typology; our B.Arch thesis topics by typology has related ideas, and our Kempegowda Airport Terminal 2 case study covers SOM's other large terminal in India, in Bengaluru.

Visiting Mumbai Airport Terminal 2

T2 is an operating terminal, open inside to ticketed passengers; SOM notes that well-wishers stay outside under Indian aviation rules and can see the check-in hall through the glass wall. The operator's ArtBeat of New India page covers the art programme, which passengers can see on both departures and arrivals levels. Follow the airport's own instructions on photography and security.

Working on a large public building and want to see how MOA members present theirs? See projects by MOA members.

FAQ

Who is the architect of Mumbai airport Terminal 2?

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) designed Terminal 2 and was also its structural and MEP engineer, with Roger Duffy as design partner. Larsen & Toubro was the architect and engineer of record and the EPC contractor, and the client was Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL).

What is the Mumbai airport Terminal 2 opening date?

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated it on 10 January 2014, and international flights moved there on 12 February 2014. Domestic flights followed in stages, with Air India moving its domestic operations on 1 October 2015.

What is Terminal 2 at Mumbai airport?

It is a four-level integrated terminal for domestic and international flights at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, designed for 40 million passengers a year. Departures are on level 4, reached by an elevated road, with arrivals and other functions stacked below.

How big is Mumbai airport T2 and what is its roof?

SOM gives 450,000 sq m gross and MIAL 439,203 sq m. The check-in hall roof covers about 70,000 sq m without an expansion joint and stands on 30 columns spaced 64 m by 34 m.

What inspired the design of Mumbai T2?

SOM cites traditional Indian pavilions and regional patterns. Coloured glass discs in the roof coffers refer to the peacock, India's national bird, and jali screens filter light into the concourses.

Sources

• SOM: Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, Terminal 2, project page (dates, area, height, plan, roof, columns, cantilever, hoisting, LEED, awards, collaborators), som.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• SOM via Newswire: New Mumbai Airport, Designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Inaugurated Today, 10 January 2014 (concept, peacock, concourses, light, art wall, cable wall, Duffy quotes), newswire.ca (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• MIAL: CSIA master plan, Terminal 2 salient features (area, counters, bridges, expressway, car park, ownership), csia.in (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• CSMIA: The ArtBeat of New India fact sheet, April 2025, csmia-mumbai.adaniairports.com, and ArtBeat of New India page, csmia-mumbai.adaniairports.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Aviation & Defence Universe: A Glorious Decade: CSMIA Celebrates 10th Anniversary of Terminal 2, 13 February 2024 (opening date, traffic), aviation-defence-universe.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Adani: Mumbai's Future Gateway to the World: T1 CSMIA to Serve Additional 20 MPPA, Post Modernisation, January 2025, adani.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Adani Enterprises: AAHL takes management control of Mumbai International Airport from the GVK Group, 13 July 2021, adanienterprises.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Airport Technology: Terminal 2, Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai (programme, contractors, levels, height, capacity, awards), airport-technology.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• BD+C: Dramatic fractal roof highlights SOM's new Mumbai airport terminal, 1 March 2014 (team list), bdcnetwork.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Architectures (Jidipi): Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport Terminal 2, project credits, architectures.jidipi.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Construction World: Flying high, 1 February 2014 (columns, pods, steel, cranes, demolition, workforce, quotes), constructionworld.in (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Siemens: Skidmore, Owings & Merrill case study (truss depth, columns, buckling analysis, cable walls), resources.sw.siemens.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Formglas: T2 Mumbai project feature (GFRG coffers, counts, sizes, moulds, capitals, lenses), formglas.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Apollo: Art in the Airport: Terminal 2 Mumbai, Louise Nicholson, 15 February 2014, apollo-magazine.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• The Moodie Davitt Report: Ambitious Terminal 2 is inaugurated at Mumbai Chhatrapati Shivaji Airport, 10 January 2014 (cost, art programme, quotes), moodiedavittreport.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Outlook Business: High flier, 1 February 2014 (cost, escalation, AERA, resettlement), outlookbusiness.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Open: Mumbai's New Peacock, Lhendup G Bhutia, January 2014 (land, Mithi river, delays), openthemagazine.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Scroll: Mumbai airport renamed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, 30 August 2018, scroll.in (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• DeshGujarat: AI shifts its domestic operations to Terminal 2 in Mumbai, 1 October 2015, deshgujarat.com (accessed 11 Nov 2026)
• Wikimedia Commons: Copyright rules by territory: India (freedom of panorama for architecture), commons.wikimedia.org (accessed 11 Nov 2026)