Glass, steel and the memory of Hudhud
The new terminal at the Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport in Bhogapuram is designed with advanced engineering to withstand extreme cyclonic conditions. Inspired by the 2014 Cyclone Hudhud, the structure features reinforced glass and specialized roofing to handle high wind speeds.
Why it matters
It highlights how climate-resilient infrastructure is becoming a priority in coastal regions prone to severe weather events.
From the air, the terminal at the Alluri Sitarama Raju International Airport in Bhogapuram resembles a fish. The roof runs as one long silver shell, ribbed into bays that ripple front to back like the gill slits do on the underside of a ray, and it flings out a pier to carry the aerobridges, so the plan reads like a fish: check-in in the belly, gates in the tail.
The shape came from the sea. The reason from a storm. On October 12, 2014, Cyclone Hudhud came ashore at Visakhapatnam with sustained winds of 185 kmph, flooded the airport, peeled the roof off the terminal and smashed the radar. The building was patched back into service inside a week. Every choice at Bhogapuram answers that week.
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