Dr. Zama M.S. is the Founder and Managing Director of Starneth India. He leads the company's strategy, partnerships and accountable delivery of landmark observation-wheel projects in India.
Mumbai, Maharashtra
Mumbai Eye
The Arabian Arc
A sea-facing cantilever wheel with a dense urban promenade and a clear Mumbai harbour identity.
Concept. Design direction, not a committed project
Concept visualization. Every design direction on this page remains a concept until site, engineering, wind, geotechnical, aviation, coastal, environmental, heritage and authority studies are completed.
The city
Where it sits, and what it is read against.
Mumbai reads its own edge before it reads anything else. The city's most recognisable image is a curve of light along a seafront, and its most recognisable architecture is a coherent body of Art Deco built along that edge in a single generation. It is also a port and a financial capital with heavy, continuous crowds and a monsoon that governs half the operating year. A landmark here is judged against a working waterfront, not against open ground.
Concept motifs
- Seafront arc
- Necklace rhythm
- Deco fin
- Structural clarity
- Port craft
- Deep ocean blue
- Champagne metal
- Limestone
- Black
- White
Cultural research
Every source below changed something in the design.
Cultural material is used here as design logic: geometry, proportion, circulation, material and climate response: never as applied surface decoration. No temple, mosque, monument, government building or sacred object is copied, and no religious imagery appears on capsules, tickets, merchandise or commercial space.
- The Arabian Sea and the seafront curve
- Set the plan geometry. The wheel and its public realm follow a single long arc rather than a rectangle, so the destination reads as part of the edge rather than as an object parked on it.
- Marine Drive and the Queen's Necklace
- Became the night-lighting logic: a controlled sequence of warm points running the length of the rim, at a fixed spacing and a fixed colour temperature, rather than colour-changing effects.
- Mumbai Art Deco
- Gave the boarding pavilion its proportions through a stepped parapet, vertical fins, a curved corner and crafted metalwork, without copying any specific building, name or facade.
- Port and maritime engineering
- Informed the exposed structural detailing and marine-grade material strategy, drawing from the working edge of the city without imitating ship rigging.
- Financial and cinematic energy
- Set the hospitality expectation: premium cabins, an event terrace and a dining level are designed in from the start rather than retrofitted, because this market will demand them.
- Dense metropolitan movement
- Drove the circulation. Queue, boarding and exit are separated at three different levels, because peak throughput here is the design case rather than an exception.
Design direction
The Arabian Arc
Mumbai Eye uses a single-sided cantilever arrangement so the wheel reads differently from every other city concept.
Two raked tubular masts stand behind the wheel and transfer axle loads into a substantial land-based service building, with visible backstays completing the load path.
A continuous public promenade passes the destination. The terminal sits within the urban edge instead of occupying an isolated island.
Mumbai identity comes from maritime scale, compact hospitality, humid light and the city skyline, not copied ornament.
How the wheel stands up
- A single-sided cantilever axle is carried by two raked tubular steel masts with engineered backstays.
- A slim trussed rim and fine radial cables carry enclosed cabins while keeping the harbour view visually open.
- The terminal and rear anchor zone provide maintenance access, evacuation routes and foundation mass on land.
- Concept only. Wind, marine corrosion, geotechnical, coastal, aviation and navigation studies govern the final system.
Station architecture
- An Art Deco-informed pavilion: a stepped parapet, vertical fins, one curved corner and crafted metalwork at the doors and handrails.
- Proportion and craft carry the reference. No specific building is copied and no historic facade is reproduced.
- Arrival and ticketing, queue and briefing, and boarding occupy three separate levels so peak crowds do not cross.
- Terrazzo and limestone floors detailed to survive a monsoon-season crowd walking in wet.
Capsule and visitor experience
- Premium and hospitality-ready: a fixed rail, a defined standing zone and a service-capable floor build-up for the cabins used for events.
- Champagne-toned metal, black frames and white interiors: an urban rather than a natural palette.
- Salt-air corrosion is designed for at the fixing and gasket level, not only at the coating level.
- Wheelchair-accessible boarding at a designated position in every rotation set, using the same queue as everyone else.
Lighting identity
- A controlled sequence of warm points along the rim, at fixed spacing and fixed colour temperature: the Queen's Necklace read as a rhythm, not as a colour.
- The support legs receive a restrained wash so the load path remains legible at night.
- No colour-change effects, no chase, no media facade. The identity is the geometry.
Landscape and public realm
- A continuous waterfront promenade that works without a ticket and continues past the site rather than terminating in it.
- Salt-tolerant planting in raised beds, sized so a monsoon does not empty them onto the promenade.
- Storm-water detailing that assumes the promenade will be overtopped, rather than assuming it will not.
Commercial activation
- Viewing terraces at pavilion roof level, open beyond ride hours.
- Dining oriented to the water, with its own arrival separated from the queue.
- An events terrace sized for the corporate and cinematic market this city actually has.
- Premium cabins as a designed product, not as a later modification.
Visitor journey
Arrival to return, in six moves.
- 01ArrivalFrom the promenade, along the arc, with the wheel and its support legs in view.
- 02TicketingAt ground level, held clear of the promenade route.
- 03QueueOne level up, under cover, with the sea in view throughout.
- 04BoardingLevel boarding at the third level, separated from the exit.
- 05RotationSeaward first, then the city edge, then the full curve.
- 06ExitDown to the promenade terrace, not back through the queue.
Climate response
- Monsoon governs the pavilion: covered queueing, generous drainage and floors detailed for standing water.
- Salt air and humidity govern the structure: corrosion protection is a system, not a coating specification.
- Sea wind governs operations: the concept assumes wind-hold procedures and a sheltered queue that stays usable during them.
Sustainability approach
- Corrosion-led material selection, because on this coast durability is the dominant carbon question.
- A promenade that remains public and free, so the asset earns its place on the seafront.
- Rainwater capture from the pavilion roof for landscape and washdown.
Accessibility approach
- A single accessible route that follows the same sequence as everyone else's, at all three levels.
- Level boarding with a designated capsule position in every rotation set.
- Sheltered rest points in the queue, because the queue is the longest part of the visit here.
- High-contrast, glare-controlled wayfinding for a bright, reflective, seafront environment.
Mobility connections
- Designed to be reached on foot from the promenade rather than from a car park.
- Coach and taxi set-down held behind the pavilion, away from the waterfront edge.
- Intended to connect to a wider seafront pedestrian route rather than to interrupt it.
Concept gallery
Mumbai Eye: concept visualizations
Concept visualization. Every design direction on this page remains a concept until site, engineering, wind, geotechnical, aviation, coastal, environmental, heritage and authority studies are completed.
Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Destination overviewThe plan follows the edge rather than sitting on it. Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Blue hourA fixed rhythm of warm points. No colour change, no chase. Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Boarding pavilionProportion and craft carry the reference: no facade is copied. Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Capsule and visitor experienceHospitality-ready from the outset, not retrofitted. Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Structural detailThe hub is the one crafted object in the structure. Concept visualizationComputed vector geometry
Public realmThe promenade continues past the site rather than ending in it.
Leadership / Mumbai Eye
Leadership and project partners
Company accountability, with local responsibility.
Starneth India leadership applies across the platform. Local partners are credited only on the project where they hold a confirmed role.
Local partners will be added here only after their project role and publication approval are confirmed.
Project status
Concept. Design direction, not a committed project
Mumbai Eye is a design direction. There is no award, contract, financing, concession, approval or construction start associated with it, and nothing on this page should be read as one. Each city project would be structured, financed and contracted independently.
Concept last reviewed 2026-09-06.
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