BIAL and Heritage
Friday, January 17, 2020
Mr. Hari Marar
MD
Bangalore International Airports Ltd
Bangalore
Dear Hari:
As you might know, I am one of the founders of Heritage Beku, Bangalore’s preeminent citizen initiative to value and protect heritage in the city.
What you are doing at BIAL makes us proud, given the global flavor, innovation and strong touch of local impact. We have chatted many times – and what is even more reassuring is the heart that you bring to many of the things you do at BIAL, the pride in this word class airport and its people - I am delighted to hear some of the stories.
While we grow in stature, business impact and global recall, we feel that Bangalore must also be able to showcase its history and heritage that is such a source of pride and joy to us. In connection with this, I wanted to suggest that the newer airport spaces (which is Terminal 2 and the upcoming Airport City) have some heritage theme , or a portion set aside for a heritage experience and theme so that the airport space that visitors enter, is not ubiquitous and anonymous like most international airports are, but carry a strong flavor and stamp of the city it resides in . I see the new Changi Airport at Singapore has successfully set up an entire Heritage flavored Food Zone with interactive experiences and audio visuals – and visitors seem to be much struck and engaged by this.
This is just an initial thought – whether it reflects in its theme, food courts, art galleries, architectural style or experiential spaces. It may be a great win-win for BIAL to both celebrate & honor its city of origin and be able to present airport customers with the sense of space and local flavor so necessary as a USP & differentiator. Since you are at an initial stage of concept and construction, perhaps it might be a good time to incorporate – hence the liberty taken to reach out on behalf of Bangalore citizens.
We are a non-commercial citizen initiative, and we do have many global conservators and architects and designers in our informal group who may drive some ideas to help. I am sure you have access to the best conservators and architects who will best advise you , but we at Heritage Beku would be very appreciative if BIAL as one of the finest infrastructure spaces in Bangalore and perhaps one the best airports in the world, reflects the heritage of our city, be it small or big.
Look forward to hearing from you.
Sincerely
Priya Chetty-Rajagopal
Founder
Heritage Beku