The city of Chennai played host and organizers for the 4th Annual Conference of the Indian Society of Landscape Architects (ISOLA). This was the Third year of participation and support by the Asia Pacific region of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA). The ISOLA theme this year was ‘Responsible and Responsive Landscape Planning” and it had its learning curve.
1st lesson: Post Tsunami, the venue- Fisherman’s Cove- has not regained its former sheen and quality from what I remember when staying there six years ago.
Every year, Dr Diane Menezies- IFLA President, presents her kaleidoscope of issues, methodologies and outcomes from around the globe related to the theme of the conference and what is expected of landscape architects as professionals and stewards of ecology and environmental design. She defines “Stewardship” as an amalgam of care, ethics, guardianship, monitoring, protection and planning.
Her succinct talk on Water in the Landscape and the City included perspectives on
Yi-Fu Tuan and the concept of ‘Topophilia’
The Waitangi Park- New Zealand
The North terrace Museum garden- Adelaide
The Beijing Olympics Forest Park
The Madagascar Highland Plateau
In regards to stream corridors and riparian landscapes she highlighted the efforts of the State of New York’s Catchment Management Practice and its policies towards land retirement from agricultural industry into sustainable forestry. Likewise, the riparian landscape management plan for the Avoca Valley- New Zealand.
Angkor Wat, New Orleans and St. Petersburg formed the triad of what can go wrong with man’s urge to engineer nature. Those were lessons no 2 and 3. (Okay...stop counting!).
Man’s dependence on Water and the ability to manage it formed the subject of the talk “Urbanity and Hydrology” by Mohan Rao- landscape architect and ecological planner from Bangalore. He points out the huge role of the humble water tanks (Pushkarni) in Vijayanagara (Hampi) in keeping the erstwhile 130 sq. km constellation of settlements, cities and agrarian landscapes alive. His demonstration of the learning derived from restoration of the Pushkarni floored many of us initiates. The need for independence with respect to water where virtually none existed formed the basis of his work in the planning of Bab Zaers in Morocco-a new urban settlement on 3000 hectares of land unmarked thus far by water (and therefore settlements/ nomadic cultures). As an idea it was like the magician who materializes a flower bouquet out of thin air. Fascinating !
Having studied under Akshay Kaul- landscape architect from Delhi, I can say that very few landscape architects repeatedly (and in this case publicly) acknowledge the attitudes and personae that have shaped their own perspectives on the subject. Many a time, it is the fear of being accused of “name dropping”. I guess that did not concern him at all as he spoke about the people, the schools, places and the books and his apprenticeship apart from his projects. In a sense, it was like going back to Basic Design in First Year Architecture. Makes you want to look into those things said.
Deriving a vocabulary for habitat from climatic regimes and programming it into an architectural manifestation formed the underpinning of James Heyter's showcased works. It included vignettes of the Canberra competition as an ideal city, garden city etc and winning entry - the inclusive vision of Walter Burly Griffin that continues to shape modern day Canberra and their site expressions for the proposed Commonwealth Park.
While Mr. Sunil Doshi spoke on City farming as a method towards an urban landscape, Dr Bhawalkar from Pune presented his take on urban waste, water poisoning and impacts on humans and nature though his talk on "Soil Bio Technology". His panacea -which was available for a low price- claimed effective cleaning of the Mula and Mutha rivers in Pune. Auroville too has something similar to this 'wonder cure'.
The interesting and at times theatrical session continued in a new avatar called "Young Landscape Architects series"
Nupur Prothi Khanna’s work is something I had never seen before this conference. Have attempted to follow and learn from her writing and commentary on Heritage gardens of India (some of it is online). Personally, there appears to be a Grand Design that takes me –as an observer and student - wherever she has already been - as a professional and academician. Her work on the Yadavindra Gardens- Pinjore confirms this. I say- More strength to her! :)
Evidently, Namrata Kashyap assesses me as “a Tamil Brahmin Iyer mixture of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai”. My assessment of her showcased work for a Healthcare institution is that it is a systemically complex mix of technical demands, contemporary aspirations, traditional associations and futuristic safeguards. She owes me one for playing interpreter with the auto driver and getting her well in time to catch her flight and chatting away to get her mind off the clock till we got to the airport.
Mr. Senthilkumar's segment, given his experience and seniority, could have been better utilized to inform the audience about what is the idiom of "contemporary Indian landscape design" in Chennai. Seniority and experience are great tools to open such contentious issues for debate, and many know that all is not hunky-dory with Chennai on the urban landscape front (for e.g. Adayar Park). Again, it is an indicator that Indian landscape architecture needs a serious self-assessment of its own placement by measuring its standards within and outside its comfort zones.
Ms Rukkumany's talk on "The Traditional Water Systems of Tamil Nadu” was an unfortunate victim of timing. Also, simultaneously being on the organizers board and being a speaker can set off murmurs when time slots are overshot. Therefore her curtailed talk, only gave vignettes of the values and issues. All that which we were not told (the management details, the future perspectives etc), I hope her students will try and pick up, and perhaps implement-especially in Thesis, as a marriage of the historic and the contemporary. The minimalist detail of the litter trap in one of the tanks is a testimony of the relevance of the subject as an amalgam of ecological signature and design idea.
Bobby Sujan used a singular theme "Datum" and presented the varied interpretations of the term in historic, academic and professional milieu. It was an attempt to illustrate that everything about landscape architecture need not be grounded/ rooted/serious, and can be fun/ fictional and yet functional and informative.
Even the studio work on Tarangampadi (Tranqebar, near Pondicherry) done by the CEPT Ahmadabad - presented by Arjun- had a race against time. Seeing the previous speakers, it should have been planned to respond to the miniscule time slot allotted- a testimony to the typical Indianness of not learning from the Past...even if the past had occurred just 20 minutes ago. Still...Good Show!
Overshooting designated time in a conference brings out the true manners of the audience. Chennai showed its true manners and I pinpoint Chennai (being a Tamilian) since the murmurs and jeers were happening in my mother tongue. Loud murmur, uncouth clapping to terminate the presentation and the fact that one had to “shush!!” people twice one’s age leave a sad impression in the mind. It is an unwanted patina on the organizers’ unenviable and difficult job of juggling time limits democratically.
The IFLA-APR awards were presented to the winners in various categories. We requested all of them to present their work extempore- wondering how the organizers missed out on that. Luckily for us, some obliged, and that included The Olympic Forest Park- Beijing, Mahindra Centre Nashik, and Zhangzhou regional landscape plan. With the internet, follow ups become easier I guess.
The evening "Kachcheri" (music performance) by the little kids was mesmeric! A complete performance! It seems to be a message that the future is still bright and definitely talented.
Organization wise, the projection arrangement and lecture-mix should have been better worked out. People pay a lot of money to get to these conferences (especially financially strained landscape architects like yours' truly and students), and do not want the Video guy standing smack-bang in front of you photographing the speakers/ dignitaries and award recipients, or focussing on the speaker just when the most interesting series of slides are being projected. And the sponsor lectures...a warning for the road ahead in terms of trying to become bigger than the event by demanding time slots and positioning.
A dry run of the organization and co-ordination efforts should be made mandatory on all events of this scale. Foreigners (and Indians) saying "Oh...the venue is not yet up" is THE opening line to be avoided. For a cricket crazy nation we want all openings and closures like Tendulkar-Gilchrist.
By the time the conference ended many of us just wanted to go and catch our flights, since there was nothing to sustain interest till the very end. That was the only downside.
The Chennai team tried their best to make it easy for us, and I must say it was as close to personalized attention as one would manage. The assurance by Mr. Raghuraman that there will be conveyance even if there is just one person waiting to be dropped, the prompt co-ordination by the Chennai team and the reassuring presence of my friend Santhanam Aiappan till the last minute, bring a smile as I reminisce this event. Kudos! to them.
Conferences are also places for Sound Bytes. In their own words:
“…the conservation and revival (of the pushkarnis) was an attempt to communicate the system of the hydrological cycle….and the question is about attitude to water management” (Mohan Rao on Hampi and Bab Zaers)
“…United Nations acclaimed technique of disposing organic waste at its source, without health hazards, simultaneously beautifying the place” (Sunil Doshi on City Farming)
“The first time I heard the term Ecology…it changed the prescription of my glasses”.
“The EGO of the architect took a beating to learn humility from nature” (Akshay Kaul about his beginnings)
“Good Design comes from two places- the Heart and the Place”
“Designing is like eating a Burger. The landscape is the filling in a burger where the top bun is CULTURE and the lower bun is NATURE” (James Heyter on his fundamentals)
“The work of landscape architects addresses the quality of TIME and landscape interventions do not have to be necessarily ‘create space’, thus differing from the work of architects where the focus is on creating space by enclosing in order to define it.” (Dr. Satya Prakash Varanashi as moderator)
“...presentation drawings of ‘sustainable design’ do not look visually attractive to the client and hence falter at the start itself” (Senthil Kumar on his work)
Questions in my mind after seeing all that:
Why is there a wide chasm of intellectual and professional foray whilst trying to attempt the phrase “sensible landscape strategy”?
Though sustaining visual interest plays a vital role in perception of landscape design, why are landscape architects still obsessed with “pretty picture” trappings?
Why do societies exhibit an aggressive blanking out of rational traditional wisdom in the misguided notion of “progress”?
How much longer before architects realize that landscape architects are not bossing over them, but rather making it better for the project when they chalk out site planning strategies and suggest siting of buildings?
Will landscape rehabilitation and restoration in cities like Mumbai ever wake up from the “hurry up” attitude that largely describes the current market scenario?
Will there ever be an epiphany?
1st lesson: Post Tsunami, the venue- Fisherman’s Cove- has not regained its former sheen and quality from what I remember when staying there six years ago.
Every year, Dr Diane Menezies- IFLA President, presents her kaleidoscope of issues, methodologies and outcomes from around the globe related to the theme of the conference and what is expected of landscape architects as professionals and stewards of ecology and environmental design. She defines “Stewardship” as an amalgam of care, ethics, guardianship, monitoring, protection and planning.
Her succinct talk on Water in the Landscape and the City included perspectives on
Yi-Fu Tuan and the concept of ‘Topophilia’
The Waitangi Park- New Zealand
The North terrace Museum garden- Adelaide
The Beijing Olympics Forest Park
The Madagascar Highland Plateau
In regards to stream corridors and riparian landscapes she highlighted the efforts of the State of New York’s Catchment Management Practice and its policies towards land retirement from agricultural industry into sustainable forestry. Likewise, the riparian landscape management plan for the Avoca Valley- New Zealand.
Angkor Wat, New Orleans and St. Petersburg formed the triad of what can go wrong with man’s urge to engineer nature. Those were lessons no 2 and 3. (Okay...stop counting!).
Man’s dependence on Water and the ability to manage it formed the subject of the talk “Urbanity and Hydrology” by Mohan Rao- landscape architect and ecological planner from Bangalore. He points out the huge role of the humble water tanks (Pushkarni) in Vijayanagara (Hampi) in keeping the erstwhile 130 sq. km constellation of settlements, cities and agrarian landscapes alive. His demonstration of the learning derived from restoration of the Pushkarni floored many of us initiates. The need for independence with respect to water where virtually none existed formed the basis of his work in the planning of Bab Zaers in Morocco-a new urban settlement on 3000 hectares of land unmarked thus far by water (and therefore settlements/ nomadic cultures). As an idea it was like the magician who materializes a flower bouquet out of thin air. Fascinating !
Having studied under Akshay Kaul- landscape architect from Delhi, I can say that very few landscape architects repeatedly (and in this case publicly) acknowledge the attitudes and personae that have shaped their own perspectives on the subject. Many a time, it is the fear of being accused of “name dropping”. I guess that did not concern him at all as he spoke about the people, the schools, places and the books and his apprenticeship apart from his projects. In a sense, it was like going back to Basic Design in First Year Architecture. Makes you want to look into those things said.
Deriving a vocabulary for habitat from climatic regimes and programming it into an architectural manifestation formed the underpinning of James Heyter's showcased works. It included vignettes of the Canberra competition as an ideal city, garden city etc and winning entry - the inclusive vision of Walter Burly Griffin that continues to shape modern day Canberra and their site expressions for the proposed Commonwealth Park.
While Mr. Sunil Doshi spoke on City farming as a method towards an urban landscape, Dr Bhawalkar from Pune presented his take on urban waste, water poisoning and impacts on humans and nature though his talk on "Soil Bio Technology". His panacea -which was available for a low price- claimed effective cleaning of the Mula and Mutha rivers in Pune. Auroville too has something similar to this 'wonder cure'.
The interesting and at times theatrical session continued in a new avatar called "Young Landscape Architects series"
Nupur Prothi Khanna’s work is something I had never seen before this conference. Have attempted to follow and learn from her writing and commentary on Heritage gardens of India (some of it is online). Personally, there appears to be a Grand Design that takes me –as an observer and student - wherever she has already been - as a professional and academician. Her work on the Yadavindra Gardens- Pinjore confirms this. I say- More strength to her! :)
Evidently, Namrata Kashyap assesses me as “a Tamil Brahmin Iyer mixture of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Chennai”. My assessment of her showcased work for a Healthcare institution is that it is a systemically complex mix of technical demands, contemporary aspirations, traditional associations and futuristic safeguards. She owes me one for playing interpreter with the auto driver and getting her well in time to catch her flight and chatting away to get her mind off the clock till we got to the airport.
Mr. Senthilkumar's segment, given his experience and seniority, could have been better utilized to inform the audience about what is the idiom of "contemporary Indian landscape design" in Chennai. Seniority and experience are great tools to open such contentious issues for debate, and many know that all is not hunky-dory with Chennai on the urban landscape front (for e.g. Adayar Park). Again, it is an indicator that Indian landscape architecture needs a serious self-assessment of its own placement by measuring its standards within and outside its comfort zones.
Ms Rukkumany's talk on "The Traditional Water Systems of Tamil Nadu” was an unfortunate victim of timing. Also, simultaneously being on the organizers board and being a speaker can set off murmurs when time slots are overshot. Therefore her curtailed talk, only gave vignettes of the values and issues. All that which we were not told (the management details, the future perspectives etc), I hope her students will try and pick up, and perhaps implement-especially in Thesis, as a marriage of the historic and the contemporary. The minimalist detail of the litter trap in one of the tanks is a testimony of the relevance of the subject as an amalgam of ecological signature and design idea.
Bobby Sujan used a singular theme "Datum" and presented the varied interpretations of the term in historic, academic and professional milieu. It was an attempt to illustrate that everything about landscape architecture need not be grounded/ rooted/serious, and can be fun/ fictional and yet functional and informative.
Even the studio work on Tarangampadi (Tranqebar, near Pondicherry) done by the CEPT Ahmadabad - presented by Arjun- had a race against time. Seeing the previous speakers, it should have been planned to respond to the miniscule time slot allotted- a testimony to the typical Indianness of not learning from the Past...even if the past had occurred just 20 minutes ago. Still...Good Show!
Overshooting designated time in a conference brings out the true manners of the audience. Chennai showed its true manners and I pinpoint Chennai (being a Tamilian) since the murmurs and jeers were happening in my mother tongue. Loud murmur, uncouth clapping to terminate the presentation and the fact that one had to “shush!!” people twice one’s age leave a sad impression in the mind. It is an unwanted patina on the organizers’ unenviable and difficult job of juggling time limits democratically.
The IFLA-APR awards were presented to the winners in various categories. We requested all of them to present their work extempore- wondering how the organizers missed out on that. Luckily for us, some obliged, and that included The Olympic Forest Park- Beijing, Mahindra Centre Nashik, and Zhangzhou regional landscape plan. With the internet, follow ups become easier I guess.
The evening "Kachcheri" (music performance) by the little kids was mesmeric! A complete performance! It seems to be a message that the future is still bright and definitely talented.
Organization wise, the projection arrangement and lecture-mix should have been better worked out. People pay a lot of money to get to these conferences (especially financially strained landscape architects like yours' truly and students), and do not want the Video guy standing smack-bang in front of you photographing the speakers/ dignitaries and award recipients, or focussing on the speaker just when the most interesting series of slides are being projected. And the sponsor lectures...a warning for the road ahead in terms of trying to become bigger than the event by demanding time slots and positioning.
A dry run of the organization and co-ordination efforts should be made mandatory on all events of this scale. Foreigners (and Indians) saying "Oh...the venue is not yet up" is THE opening line to be avoided. For a cricket crazy nation we want all openings and closures like Tendulkar-Gilchrist.
By the time the conference ended many of us just wanted to go and catch our flights, since there was nothing to sustain interest till the very end. That was the only downside.
The Chennai team tried their best to make it easy for us, and I must say it was as close to personalized attention as one would manage. The assurance by Mr. Raghuraman that there will be conveyance even if there is just one person waiting to be dropped, the prompt co-ordination by the Chennai team and the reassuring presence of my friend Santhanam Aiappan till the last minute, bring a smile as I reminisce this event. Kudos! to them.
Conferences are also places for Sound Bytes. In their own words:
“…the conservation and revival (of the pushkarnis) was an attempt to communicate the system of the hydrological cycle….and the question is about attitude to water management” (Mohan Rao on Hampi and Bab Zaers)
“…United Nations acclaimed technique of disposing organic waste at its source, without health hazards, simultaneously beautifying the place” (Sunil Doshi on City Farming)
“The first time I heard the term Ecology…it changed the prescription of my glasses”.
“The EGO of the architect took a beating to learn humility from nature” (Akshay Kaul about his beginnings)
“Good Design comes from two places- the Heart and the Place”
“Designing is like eating a Burger. The landscape is the filling in a burger where the top bun is CULTURE and the lower bun is NATURE” (James Heyter on his fundamentals)
“The work of landscape architects addresses the quality of TIME and landscape interventions do not have to be necessarily ‘create space’, thus differing from the work of architects where the focus is on creating space by enclosing in order to define it.” (Dr. Satya Prakash Varanashi as moderator)
“...presentation drawings of ‘sustainable design’ do not look visually attractive to the client and hence falter at the start itself” (Senthil Kumar on his work)
Questions in my mind after seeing all that:
Why is there a wide chasm of intellectual and professional foray whilst trying to attempt the phrase “sensible landscape strategy”?
Though sustaining visual interest plays a vital role in perception of landscape design, why are landscape architects still obsessed with “pretty picture” trappings?
Why do societies exhibit an aggressive blanking out of rational traditional wisdom in the misguided notion of “progress”?
How much longer before architects realize that landscape architects are not bossing over them, but rather making it better for the project when they chalk out site planning strategies and suggest siting of buildings?
Will landscape rehabilitation and restoration in cities like Mumbai ever wake up from the “hurry up” attitude that largely describes the current market scenario?
Will there ever be an epiphany?
That was a fantastic review of the ISOLA meet.I couldn't attend it and have been wanting to know about it...Thanks.
ReplyDeleteStumbled onto this blog by chance.Lovely blog...looking forward to read more.
Hi!
ReplyDeleteWon't be able to manage better report of ISOLA Chennai for LA journal.Kindly allow us to carry it in the upcoming issue.
regards
geeta
la journal
09810600754
Amazing blog...
ReplyDeleteAparna.