Delhi Airport Roof Collapse: How Red Flags in T1 'Structural Flaws' Were Ignored
Incidentally, this is not the first time that inadequacies of the Delhi airport’s infrastructure have come to light.
By: GARIMA SADHWANI
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Back in 2009, when Terminal 1 of Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport was newly built, Minu CP, the Principal Architect at Bengaluru-based firm Ravi and Minu, wrote a blog on Architecture Ideas criticising the terminal's design.
The design was “susceptible to leaks”, she noted.
Months after the terminal started functioning later, in August 2009, a part of the roof collapsed following heavy winds over 90kmph. Some parts of the terminal developed leaks too after it rained for a few hours with 38.1 mm intensity.
This year, on 28 June, something similar happened. Delhi received 228.1 mm of rainfall — breaking an 88-year-old record. The same morning, at around 5 am, a portion of a canopy at T1's old departure forecourt collapsed killing 45-year-old Ramesh Kumar — a cab driver from Uttar Pradesh — and injuring at least six other people.
[…]
So, two questions arise — why were architects and structural engineers wary of T1's design in the first place, and could the roof collapse have been averted?
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