Project Report

Metros Stations at Bengaluru

Apurva Bose Dutta, experiencing the benefits of rapid
An Introduction to
Architect, Bengaluru transit system, a number of Indian
the Bengaluru Metro cities including Bengaluru, Chennai,
Photo courtesy: India is fast approaching Hyderabad and Mumbai are fast on
Urbanisation - with rapid growth in the track to attain the same.
DKA Architects
population and in an attempt to Bengaluru - India’s Silicon Valley
decongest crowds, metros in major stands tall amongst the cities which
cities of the country are springing are brimming with metro work going
up. With Kolkata and Delhi already on in full vigour. Apparently, several

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 2005 and the Union Government in
2006, the Bangalore Metro Rail
Corporation Limited (BMRCL) was
founded in 2006 as a joint venture
between the Government of India
and the Government of Karnataka
for the implementation of Bangalore
Metro Rail system. The East-West
Corridor starting from Byappanahalli
will terminate at the Mysore Road
Terminal whereas the North-South
Corridor will begin at the
Hesarghatta Road Terminal and
end at Puttenahalli.
Metro Stations by
DKA
Amongst the 43 metro stations
being planned for the city, 11 have
been designed by local architects -
Dutta & Kannan Architects (DKA).
This is indeed a major achievement
in a country where such technical
aviation designing is left to
international architects and only a
handful of architectural firms have
been able to do justice to designing
metros. It is common knowledge
that initially all the metros stations
in Bengaluru were given to leading
architectural firms in the city to
design; who came up with brilliant
concepts but however exceeded the
budget of 35 crores (for each
station) that was permitted. This is
where the Government had to
reconsider the proposals and
RITES, the general consultants for
the project stepped in. It was
decided that all the metro stations
needed to be redesigned. Tenders
were floated for the same and were
won by L&T (an electrical and civil
construction company), S N Bhobe
(an electrical company who are also
currently handling the Mumbai
metro) and SNCL. Indraneel Dutta
who did his graduation from
Chicago, following which he worked
in London for five years, is the
principal architect of DKA. He says,
“For an architectural firm to qualify
for a project worth 1000 crores,

MRTS proposals for this IT Capital

have been in the pipeline for the
past 24 years. Dating back to 2003,
the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation
(DMRC) and RITES (Rail India
Technical and Economic Services)
Mysore Road Station
prepared a detailed project report
for the Bengaluru metro rail with
the proposal of two double line
corridors: East-West (EW) and
North-South (NS) with their lengths
respectively being 18.10 km and
14.90 km. With a nod of approval
from the Karnataka government in

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Project Report
they need to collaborate with a
structural engineering firm. Thus
came in our collaboration with SNC
Lavalin, an engineering and
construction company. SPAN, a
structural engineering firm (which
is currently doing the Hyderabad
and Chennai Metro) was bought
over by SNC Lavalin for the same.
78
SNC Lavalin’s responsibility for this
project was structural design and
project coordination while DKA was
heading the architectural, MEP and
fire fighting.” The project got
launched in 2007; the east-west
stations are looking forward to
completion in Dec 2010 and the
north-south in Dec 2012.
DKA has been into commercial
architecture for sometime and have
been working on contemporary
designs. They are working towards
opening offices in Kolkata and
Chennai. The Metro project was the
first of its kind which they decided
to work on, all thanks to senior
partner Brinda Kannan who has
worked on three underground metro
projects and two airport terminals
in London before she moved down
to India to form DKA three years
back. Without making any other
metro stations as their reference,
the firm thus plunged into the
project. A lot of calculations are
involved in the design of the metro
since it needs to have a dynamic
structural design. Talking about the
complications in designing a project
as challenging as this, Indraneel
informs us, “Any building takes
dead load and thus requires a four
point check. In the case of metro
stations, they take load passing
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through them and thus require a

12 point check. As architects we
were never trained to design metros
which have lots of calculations and
an important consideration in its
cost factor”.
The metro project was divided
into four reaches – Reach 1 (R1),
Reach 2 (R2), Reach 3 (R3) and
Reach 4 (R4). DKA are the project
leaders of R2 and R3B. The stations
designed by them on R2 are ‘on
the road stations’ with carriageway
on both the sides – comprising of
stations at Mysore Road (terminal
station), Deepanjali, Vijayanagar,
Hosahalli, Toll Gate, Magadi Road.
The stations on R3 are ‘off the
road’ and comprise of stations at
Peeniya Village, Peeniya Industrial
Area, Jalahalli, Dasarahalli,
Hessargatta (terminal station). Courtesy: Apurva Bose Dutta,
Apprising of the difference in both
Indraneel adds, “Off the road passengers”, says Indraneel. Each Association) and international
stations are possible in non-packed of the metro stations has standard norms have also been adhered to.
areas where there is lots of dimensions – 135 m long x 16 m / Referring to the other metros in
available land. It is easier to design 18 m wide. The width of the stations India Indraneel maintains that he
compared to ‘on the road’ stations was finalised considering the prefers the Kolkata one, since the
which are a structural challenge length of roads in Bengaluru which Delhi metro concentrates more on
since in them there is a median of are between 18m - 24m. The length function without paying much
a single pier of columns to which was calculated keeping in mind the importance to form. Abroad, his any
the load gets transferred. On ‘off length of the coaches (the width of day preference is the Jubilee Line,
the road’ stations you have one coach is 19m). According to London.
columns at both ends of the designs and calculations three
coaches would suffice for the Planning
structure for the load to distribute.”
amount of people travelling up to The metro lines in case of the R3
The Terminal stations have been
2015; after which the length has corridor have been kept parallel to
designed on a budget of 45 crores.
been maintained to adjust three the highway. In the R2 corridor the
Diagram for the additional coaches. Provisions have canopies of the metro stations fall
been made for peak hours till 2015 on the road. The entrance system
Different Reaches for the addition of three more on the footpath leads to the
Concept coaches if the existing three don’t escalator which leads to an unpaid
The metro stations have been suffice. It is also of note that these and paid concourse level. Part of
designed bearing in mind the vision trains will be electric trains sans the unpaid level also serves as the
to provide passengers with a engine. operational area where the staffs
secure, comfortable and an The stations have been so sits and the remaining has
attractive commuting experience. conceptualized that any station can automatic devices for tickets. The
“We got the preliminary design be evacuated in five minutes flat. paid levels in some of the stations
report by the BMRCL which This is based on the calculations have retail also. The next level above
contained a detailed survey of the of the ridership data that the this level is the platform level where
area on which the track has to government has provided the trains come. Circulation through
come up, its alignment, soil test architects. Based on this data which these levels is via stairs or elevator.
data, rider ship data and norms to keeps in mind the population and On each platform, there is one
be followed. These stations have local transit, staircase widths and escalator with a space provision for
been designed considering the platform widths have been finalized. a second one in the future.
public in general, operator and the NFPA (National Fire Protection Indraneel also points out at the

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new strategy coming up… of these
metro stations opening up into
malls, one such being designed by
the Mantri developers.
The architect came up with
creative ideas–like having photo
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voltaic on the roof of one of the
metro stations, different roof forms
to get in light, and harvesting rain
water; but these concepts weren’t
okayed. Within very strict timelines
the product had to be delivered,
and Indraneel didn’t want to repeat
any of his designs. The result is
definitely some swanky looking
designs palpable of Bengaluru’s
contemporary architecture and
evocative of a mesmerising image
of the IT Capital. Structural Glazing
and Natural stone form a part of all
the metro stations, with varied
additional materials being used in
them individually – like sandstone
in the Peeniya Village Station, ACP
in Ulsoor Station and regular plaster
in the Mysore Road station. All
thanks to the design, there is no
artificial light needed before 6 pm.
Track ceiling lights like ‘Hunter
Douglas’ with mirror optic tube
lights and CFL’s light up the
stations after evening. The
architects have also envisioned the
Metro as a means of ameliorating
the quality of urban life. Besides
the stations serving their basic
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functions, there is a plaza for street
performance at the Mysore road
terminus, space for fairs, exhibitions
and a commercial complex at the
Magadi Road Station, site for
advertising and pathways to be used
for temporary exhibitions and
shopping.
Dwelling on the structure of the
stations Indraneel adds, “The
structural design was very
challenging on the single pier
design as the entire load of the
cantilevers (9m on either side) and
tracks station loads were on a
single pier. Also, the structure had
to take into account a lot of
movement from the trains coming
in and out. The roof truss had to be
designed to take into account a lot
of wind load from an approaching
train.”
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Interior view of a station
Conclusion
Bengaluru has a population nearing
seven million. The number of
passengers expected to travel on
the metro everyday is estimated at
10.20 lakh in 2011 and 16.10 lakh
in 2021. With so much of pressure
on the transport system, everyone
is waiting for the metros which have
been in planning for long. Once
complete, they would be easing out
the traffic congestion, strains on the
road and reduction of pollution
levels. It is envisaged that the travel
time from end to end on the east-
west corridor will be 33 minutes,
and on the north-south corridor will
be 28 minutes. At the time DKA
took on this project, there was no
rule book in India detailing fire
norms for the design of metros.
The Kolkata Metro was designed
without a rule book and the Delhi
Metro was designed on
international norms. But the
relevance of metros is fast pacing
up in India, with today a set of
rules being adopted for metro
constructions. The Bengaluru metro
story doesn’t end here. It is touted
to be one of the biggest
infrastructure projects for the city till
date. Though at present 43 stations
are being constructed which would
get completed by 2015 but the DBR
(Design Basis report) issued by
BMRCL shows an approval for 162
stations which means that in future
there would be tributaries on the
North-South and East West
corridors.
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For DKA, the approach to a project involves a

thorough knowledge about the programme, an in-
depth study of the images that the client has in
mind, stressing on the form and then fitting in the
function into it. Brinda and Indraneel have also
formed HybridArch under DKA for out-of-the-box
thinking projects, for experimentation with
architecture and product designs, one of them
being a luxury hotel in Slovakia that they are currently
working on. On a concluding note, Indraneel
affirmatively says, “We are amongst the five firms
in India which specialise in metro design. We just
need the ridership data to design a metro station.
We are a young firm and have established
ourselves as a totally architectural firm since 2006.
In three years, we have completed 3 million sqft of
construction in commercial and residential projects.
Our firm is consciously working towards aviation
projects like airports, bus terminals etc. The
Bengaluru metro project once completed will be
the best in India.”
The metro debate however does exist; making
everyone ponder if this would be the best solution
for Bengaluru people and traffic. Options like BMTC
buses might just fare better considering the
coverage, accessibility, commute time, cost and
economic viability. With bated breaths, we need to
wait and watch!!!
Bangalore-based architect Apurva Bose Dutta is
an architectural journalist and she can be contacted
at apurvabose@yahoo.com.

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