Planning to "keep the relationship between the body, sky and sun integral to the design, in accordance with the Zoroastrian faith,” Thomas Heatherwick will create a "massive aviary open to the sky.” So stated an article in The Indian Express (IE) of May 12, 2013 with reference to the English architect preparing a design for the once proposed vulture breeding aviary at Doongerwadi in Bombay. Heatherwick envisioned 30 ft high nets to cover the dakhmas, with high masts strung together by cables to permit vultures, with their large wings, to move in and out of the aviary with ease. Sunlight would reach deep inside the wells through the wide nets over which creepers would grow. Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee Jimmy Mistry, who was working on the project with Heatherwick, told IE: "Thomas is restoring the entire complex, from pathways to resting places to driveways. His sensitivity and out-of-the-box solutions are the reasons we chose him as the master designer for this project.”
With towering residential com-plexes having come up at Malabar Hill, Heatherwick’s mandate is to ensure that the aviary and the dakhmas "enjoy seclusion and privacy, creating a balance between tradition and modernity,” the report mentions.
The 43-year-old designer, who graduated from the Royal College of Art, London, and set up his studio over 18 years ago, was in Bombay in April this year for the India Design Forum. For Heatherwick, "design is an act of misbehaving,” mentions IE. His better known projects include the "cauldron” for the London Olympics in 2012, the Seed Cathedral at the UK Pavilion for the World Expo in Shanghai in 2010 and renovation of the design of London’s iconic double-decker buses, IE notes.
But sources in the BPP say Heatherwick’s official proposal never reached them and was prepared over two to three years ago. The board has not taken any decision on the ambitious aviary project as yet and the proposal is in limbo