Specialisation Studies
Landscape Design
Ravindra Punde
Parnavi Kulkarni
Some of the questions that anchored or emerged from the discussions in the studio:
What makes a landscape? Is a landscape only a physical setting, or does it also include culture, memory, and everyday life? What elements of a landscape remain constant, and what elements change? How does a landscape reflect the relationship between people and place? Can Kanheri be understood as a finished monument, or should it be read as an evolving landscape where natural processes continue to shape the site?
How does the modern drainage system supersede the older ancient one ? How caves and pathways have changed over time?
Where does the boundary between the built and the natural truely exist along the route, and how would our perception of the site change if these edges disappeared altogether?
If the original inhabitants moved through this landscape in response to necessity like water, light, shelter, livelihood and we as tourists move through it in response to curiosity and leisure, how does that difference affect the organising of movement through the landscape and the caves?
How are built spaces as well as landscape organised with respect to the movement of the inhabitants and the tourists? And how does the overlapping of these movements result in a space?
How has the Sabarmati Riverfront redevelopment affected the livelihoods of people who depended on the river? How has access to public space influenced informal economic activities along the riverfront? How has land use along the Sabarmati changed before and after the redevelopment? How does the project negotiate the tension between modernization and historical continuity?
How has the Sabarmati Riverfront redevelopment affected the livelihoods of people who depended on the river? How has access to public space influenced informal economic activities along the riverfront? How has land use along the Sabarmati changed before and after the redevelopment? How does the project negotiate the tension between modernization and historical continuity?
How has the project influenced property values and surrounding urban growth? How have memories of the old riverfront been preserved or erased through the new design? How does the riverfront balance ecological restoration with urban development?
What is leaf litter?
How do root systems, soil pockets, and seasonal water streams modify the microclimate of Kanheri's basalt landscape, and how do these processes influence the ecological diversity across the hill slopes and valleys?
Why should we design wetland? Why should we consider purification of water? What is wetland?
What are the typologies of vegetation? How do development projects redefine the meaning of a landscape?
Documenting and modelling the site in Kanheri Caves, Sanjay Gandhi National Park ^
The studio team ^