PARIMAL GARDEN

“While design is about the creation of new spaces, and new ideas, that we occupy regularly, it is equally about retaining a sense of memory and nostalgia, or carrying forward a moment in time, and of continuity.”

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Location
Ahmedabad

Typology
Public garden

Site area
10 Acre

The Pratiti Initiative was conceptualised in 2016 with the aim of devising a sustainable model for the redesign and refurbishment of Public Parks and Public Spaces. It is a successful Public-Private Partnership between the U.N Mehta Foundation, and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, and has seen the redesign of 9 public parks in the city.

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The Parimal Garden began to be envisioned at a time when it would not be wrong to describe Ahmedabad as a hub for art & culture; a space that successfully combined the traditional with the modern. The institutions that the patrons of the city developed were interdisciplinary in nature; almost geared towards reinstating a sense of identity and culture within the city.

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It was at this time that Shri Chinubhai Chimanlal Sheth - Chinubhai Mayor, as he was called - became the first Mayor of the newly formed Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. A well-travelled man, he came from the firm belief that Ahmedabad must have gardens that could become spaces for society and community. This process of thinking became the first steps for the creation of the Parimal Garden.

Jayantilal Bhikabhai - a city industrialist, and a member of the city council brought the proposal of the Garden to the Textile Mill Owners. The mayor, along with the erstwhile city commissioner - K.M Katawala, and then sitting commissioner M.D Rajpal became a part of the approval party.

When asked, people recollect the land that was identified for the development of the park as low-lying, and often water-logged. It was an area with narrow streets, and an old banyan tree.

A Town Planning Scheme Plan from the 1940s marks this area as a Tank. After its initial design, Shri Kamal Mangaldas - one of the city’s well-respected architects - undertook the redesign of the Garden twice; most recently in 1998.

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Landscape India Project Image

For many years, after the park was initially designed, it was maintained by the Municipal Corporation. The Torrent Group took over the maintenance of the Garden in 1990’s.

Over the past 65 years, the garden has been ingrained in the memory of the city at large. It has become integral to the identity of the city.

The process, then, needed to be rooted in ideas of the legacy that has been established, nostalgia associated with the users of the park, continuity, and preservation.

An assessment of the park prior brought to light some issues in terms of maintenance, need for equipment, land grading, planting - and in so doing reimagining the experientially of the Garden.

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Landscape India Project Image

The Garden as it now stands includes a seating space along its outside periphery - creating a connection between the park and the city. Upon entering the garden, one is greeted by mounds that provide an added layer of connection, and become one of the many gathering spaces in the garden.

A meandering plaza becomes not only a space for seating, but also a space that allows the visitors to navigate from one area of the garden to the other. A Children’s Play area, indoor gyms, the country’s first pet park, a yoga and meditation pavilion, and a nature’s corner become new additions within the Garden.

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Landscape India Project Image

A meditation ground is held by the refurbished brick chimneys that were an ode to the industry upon whose back the city was built and developed. An art Installation - Monkeys fabricated from scrap metal - conceptualised and executed by the Baroda Based Artist Premkumar Vaishya (David) become a whimsical addition against this solid backdrop. A bougainvillea arbour that is quinessential to this garden has been refurbished and retained.

While the garden already incorporated within it an amphitheatre, it was redesigned and relocated to address the issue of street noise. Two fountains within the Garden’s campus were restored and reactivated - retaining their existent bases, and installing new bowls. The redesign of the lake allows it to become a more active part in the manner in which users experience the garden.

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Together, the redesign emphasises and builds connections - both old and new; whether it is in the form of the nostalgia, and in terms of accessibility to spaces in terms of visual and physical boundaries.

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Parimal Garden | Ahmedabad | Landscape India