Competition / Past Continuous is Future Perfect, Students' Landscape Design Competition / Landscape Foundation, India

Architectural heritage sites are an invaluable part of a country's cultural legacy. Conceptualized and created in a different epoch, sited in a different cultural context, they are memory markers of cultural history and give a sense of time to the place. In India, these sites spread across the country date back many millennia. Most of them - palaces and forts and tomb and pleasure gardens, religious places, historic cities, gateways, heritage streets, and traditional water harvesting structures - are now public spaces. The physical and cultural contexts of these historical structures, have completely changed, the character of open spaces around transformed. Largely due to the legislation of Central and State Archaeological Departments, these open areas are developed as gardens, parks or are left as fenced open land. Is it the only way to conserve and protect these areas, which at many times, become inert islands, disconnected with the life of the city? Can the area around Red Fort, at present developed as lawns, be conceptualized as a cultural venue for the nation’s Independence Day and for the rest of the year, as areas for activities like informal shopping, public rallies, discourses and Performing Arts? A fruit orchard may be a better idea!! Can the original entrance to Qutb Minar complex be revived from Alai Darwaza and integrated with the surrounding Archaeological Park? Can Shanivaar Vada be surrounded by religious structures, streets and developed as a recreational hub in the cultural capital of Maharashtra, or are formal gardens are better suited for its present day context? Many sensitive and relevant approaches and ideas can be envisioned for development of these open spaces so they become lively places with a special context and relate well to the contemporary needs and concerns of the region. The Competition is an attempt to encourage students to explore and visualize surrounding areas around monuments and heritage precincts with radical and fresh approaches so as to make them meaningful and relevant spaces along with the historical spirit in which they are sited, thus becoming part of the daily life of the city or a town or a village.

Register by: 10-15-2017 / Submit by: 10-15-2017

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