Work / 02 · Design studio

Transit Oasis

A bus terminal with commercial and stay facilities, organised along a single “symphonic axis”.

Public infrastructureCirculation planningParametric roofSteel structure

Bus terminal with a wave-like parametric roof, glazed concourse and vertical timber fins

Type: Architectural design studio, Semester 9
Year: 2023
Location: Kole village, Katai Naka Highway, Kalyan (Thane)
Programme: Bus terminal, retail, stay and maintenance facilities
Site area: 36,520 m² (9 acres)
Built-up area: Terminal 6,336 m² · Retail 1,845 m² · Maintenance 305 m²
Scope: Site analysis, programming, architecture, roof structure and construction details, physical model

A bus terminal shapes how a city is experienced by thousands of people every day. The brief was a transit hub on a nine-acre site at the junction of a 100 m multimodal road and two smaller roads. It called for a complex, multifunctional building whose design had to account for traffic, infrastructure and services as much as form.

Spaces were zoned by who uses them (travellers, staff and service) into public, semi-private and private areas, so that circulation stays legible even at peak hours. Transparency guided the design: glazed concourses open the interior to the outdoors and to daylight.

“Transit is not just about moving from one place to another; it's about the journey that shapes our perspectives and connects us to the surrounding.” Concept: the symphonic axis

01Site and programme

A SWOT study of the site and its surroundings (natural resources, connectivity, nearby amenities and the development plan) informed a zoning diagram that separates entrances, ticketing and waiting, bus platforms, recreational grounds and the service yard.

Context study with site photographs, SWOT analysis and a zoning diagram of public, semi-private and private areas — **Context study and analysis.** SWOT, context mapping and social programming.

02Concept and form

A central axis acts as the backbone of the plan, ordering every room, corridor and alcove along a sequence of spaces. Functions were split between a commercial block and the terminal building, the form evolved through circulation, and the two were joined by a landscaped recreational bridge.

../ height="1980" alt="Five-step form development from site setbacks to buildings connected by a bridge" loading="lazy">

Form development.

Rendered ground floor plan at 1:300 with bus bays, terminal and commercial block — **Ground floor plan**, 1:300.

Site elevation and site section of the terminal — **Site elevation and site section.**

03Structure and construction

The parametric roof is built from GFRC panels carried on tapered steel-tube “trees”. Vertical fins cast shadow across the elevation, planters temper the microclimate, and the narrow cantilever around the building shades the ground floor. Roof, terrace-garden and façade junctions were detailed at 1:10 and 1:15.

../ height="1980" alt="Sections and north, west and south elevations at 1:250" loading="lazy">

Sections and elevations, 1:250.

../ height="1940" alt="Construction details of the steel tree roof, terrace garden slab layers and strip section of the terminal" loading="lazy">

Construction details: roof, terrace garden slab and strip section.