An ambitious retail-dining-entertainment (RDE) village is being planned for Bangalore’s Airport City as part of a 1.1 million square foot initiative to meet the growing demand from travellers to India’s emerging international hub.

DP Architects Singapore, which designed The Dubai Mall, is the architectural consultant for the project. “Their learnings from the Dubai project will be useful for Bengaluru Airport City’s RDE,” Rao Munukutla, Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) told .

The Kempegowda International Airport, which the BIAL operates, is a major draw for the Arabian Gulf-based non-resident Indians (NRIs), especially those from southern India.

The airport has witnessed phenomenal expansion and is emerging as one of the fastest-growing in the world. In 2019, it handled 33.65 million passengers, ranking third in the country after New Delhi (67.3 million) and Mumbai (45.87 million).

India’s other major airports include Chennai (22.26 million in 2019), Kolkata (22.01 million) and Hyderabad (21.65 million).

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According to Munkutla, the RDE Village is built on the vision of creating a new destination with a deep connection to the community, culture and environment, focusing on human-centric design. “This is reflected in our overall design sensibility, which is innovation driven, incorporating sustainable features. We’re confident that the RDE Village will continue to further add impetus in making Bengaluru one of the most vibrant cities in India,” he said.

The RDE project aims to create a retail and lifestyle destination and will seamlessly link multiple zones through interactive and sensory experiences that encourage longer dwell time and repeat visits. The state-of-the-art project would be strategically located adjacent to the concert arena and the convention and exhibition Centre.

It will be developed on a 23-acre land as a mid- to high-end shopping and lifestyle destination.

Connectivity to the RDE village will be boosted by the Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus service and the upcoming Metro lines.

The ‘futuristic city’ will be innovative and a launch pad for ‘global urban solutions’.

“This multi-asset destination aims to create a right mix of asset classes that includes Business Parks, Technology Hubs, Health District, Convention & Exhibition Centre, Knowledge Park, Hospitality, Central Park, a multipurpose Concert Arena, Retail, Dining & Entertainment Village and more,” said another airport executive.

BIAL appointed DP Architects Singapore and Portland Design UK as architectural consultants for the project. It aims to develop the ‘airport city’ as a world-class destination of mixed-land use development.

Nithin Belle