8 weeks, August - October 2017
Landscape architecture
Designer
Collaborative Effort
The project brief for ANDC 2017-18 called for a hands-on, real-life intervention in a neglected place to catalyze its transformation into a space emanating positive impact through architecture and design.
The site chosen was a 2-acre dilapidated dumping yard in Noida, India. It had the potential to impact people across various socio-economic status and age groups due to its location in a well-connected, diverse neighbourhood.
Akshita Verma (co-executor), Badal Kalra (co-executor), Mohd. Salim ( lead 3D visualizer), Mohd. Fauzan Mirza (3D visualizer), and me (the ideator)
I worked as a freelance UX/UI designer, involved from the inception of the design phase - including conducting user research, mapping out problems, and delivering the final UI designs (10-15 screens) - till the hand off for development.
The aim of the research was to understand the needs and pain points of the people impacted by the site. We conducted house-to-house user interviews to understand the individual problems faced by residents living in the immediate vicinity, and workshops and surveys with the Residents’ Welfare Organization (RWA) to understand the needs of the floating population and the sector.
Interactions with the residents revealed the issues faced due to insects, mosquitoes and snakes due the tall, wild grass as well as lack of proper parking provisions in the area and the sessions with the RWA uncovered the need for space for playing group sports and games like cricket, fetch, etc. for kids. We also observed the lack of interaction and sense of community amongst the residents.
Increase community involvement and accountability by including them in the transformation of space
Promote and support interaction amongst people through big shaded spaces like gazebos to allow for congregations, etc.
Promote and support interaction of users with the environment by introducing interactive elements to harness the senses - like the percussion wall of the acoustic zone, sensory path of the tactile zone, colour wheel of the visual zone, deciduous trees and plants of the olfactory and gustatory zones, etc.
We mobilised the community to become a part of the execution and together we removed weeds, shrubs and waste from site and erected and painted bamboo poles for lighting and fencing. The team conducted a green drive in which students from nearby school came to plant trees. We constructed pathways and the out-of-waste sensory elements. On 15th August 2017, Independence Day, the Sensory Garden was successfully launched and had a footfall of over 120 people in the first week.
As budding architects, we wished to execute an ambitious never-seen-before transformation. We erected high-maintenance sensory elements which were not self-sustainable and hence, today after 4 years of execution, some of them do not exist at the site. The residents and the RWA have maintained the trees, pathways and the parking is well-used. This project taught me that it’s important for the solution to be built around usefulness, value and ease of maintenance.
However, it also taught me about the profound impact that design can have on a community. The neighbors who never knew each other became friends through shared accountability. To contribute to the transformation, even students from nearby schools joined the effort and chipped in through participation, ideas and encouragement.
%204.png)
%203.png)
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
.webp)
