Page 120 - HUDCO DESIGN AWARDS
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GARDEN OF THE UNEXPECTED, AUROVILLE, TAMIL NADU
The Design Brief For The Garden of the Unexpected: Principles Of Sustainability Applied In
1. The garden is an “initiatory place” for children. It is not an Our Proposal On The Gardens:
ordinary playground, but a place of wonder and discovering the
unexpected. A place of reversed reality -for example, a place where ▪ Use of water resistant plants :
one can feel the sky on the ground and the ground in the sky. ▪ 44 TDEF (Tropical Dry Evergreen Forest,
2. The existing contours have to be respected. Indigenous to the south eastern coast of
3. The areas of the Gardens must not be overcrowded. India) bushes and trees (5-10 m high) were
4. It is suggested that designers work as a team. planted as the first step creating the overall
5. The designers would study and include indigenous flora & fauna in major musical scale of the garden.
the design and provide for adequate shade and sitting arrangements.
6. Safety in the garden has to be the primary concern of designer as ▪ Minor scale created by many small
the garden is meant for children. interventions like edible curative gardens,
7. The garden has to be sustainable in the long run and not require small fruit trees, indigenous ground cover,
highly etc.
labourintensive or costly maintenance.
6. Water usage, for irrigation and water bodies, has to be kept at a ▪ Combination of automatic sprinklers & drip
minimum. irrigation for a judicious use of water.
7. Matrimandir gardens can grow according to the consciousness of
people and society. In this regard, hard landscaping has to be kept ▪ Use of illumination with -12v only. Creating
minimum while giving natural landscaping more emphasis. indirect lighting by state-of-the-art lamp
shades in granite which are locally available
and easy to maintain.
Time period of the Garden of Birth (A)
project: 2019 – 2021 Garden of ▪ Properly designed site drainage and
Adolescence (B)
rainwater harvesting pits where possible.
▪ Minimum use of hard landscape and RCC.
▪ Retaining the existing contours of site.
Garden of Youth (C)
▪ Natural Bio Ponds which are designed with
▪ plants and fish (to keep away mosquitoes)
and made child proof by steps inside.
▪ Paving done using waste materials recycled
on site.
▪ All mature trees on site have been retained.
Site Details
Site Area - 8350 sq. m
Site Budget - 60 lakhs
Garden of
Eternal child Cost - 728 rs/sq m. 70 rs /sq ft
(D) Client- Auroville community and visitors to
matrimandir.
