Having encountered glimpses of the work/ styles/ range of projects by Landscape Architects in India and Abroad, one of the things that comes to mind is the visible lack of records of the works of Indian Landscape Architects- specifically - Monographs and critical scrutiny under relevent lenses.
For a profession which is about 50 years old, we have no record- in the accessible public realm- of the difficult beginnings by the 1st generation Landscape Architects. The names of Landscape Architects that come to mind based on my limited (and perhaps incorrect)knowledge include Prof. Ram Sharma, Prof. Ravindra Bhan, Prof. Prabhakar Bhagwat, Prof. Satish Khanna and Prof. Kishore Pradhan. An eclectic mix of US, UK and French pedagogy.
The above mentioned people are widely respected and equally revered for "Igniting Minds" as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam has so succinctly put it in recent times. Their practice perhaps began as professionals who were NOT the project architect, but were advising on site design and site management and at times "re-visioning" the development.
But were they the only ones? (without taking anything away from them)- is a question worth searching for an answer to understand India's tryst with modern landscape architecture.
Who introduced the landscape architect to India ? Where? why?( I'd like an authentic, ego-free answer on this one)
Many stories and (perhaps) wisdom therein would have been passed on to-and-between those who had a privelege of working with the 1st generation landscape architects or studying under them in the initial years. Also answers to many questions on the personalities themselves remain unfortunately personal or even taboo.
Why did they choose to study this subject?
How did their Architectural schooling/ Town Planning studies discuss outdoor planning/ site design?
Who were their mentors/ who advised them/ shined the light on their path?
How did they evolve their philosophy and design methodology?
How did they keep track of emerging world views at a time when television and telephones were a privileged possession?
Did they get influenced? why? why not?
Did their projects take longer to complete?
For a profession which is about 50 years old, we have no record- in the accessible public realm- of the difficult beginnings by the 1st generation Landscape Architects. The names of Landscape Architects that come to mind based on my limited (and perhaps incorrect)knowledge include Prof. Ram Sharma, Prof. Ravindra Bhan, Prof. Prabhakar Bhagwat, Prof. Satish Khanna and Prof. Kishore Pradhan. An eclectic mix of US, UK and French pedagogy.
The above mentioned people are widely respected and equally revered for "Igniting Minds" as Dr APJ Abdul Kalam has so succinctly put it in recent times. Their practice perhaps began as professionals who were NOT the project architect, but were advising on site design and site management and at times "re-visioning" the development.
But were they the only ones? (without taking anything away from them)- is a question worth searching for an answer to understand India's tryst with modern landscape architecture.
Who introduced the landscape architect to India ? Where? why?( I'd like an authentic, ego-free answer on this one)
Many stories and (perhaps) wisdom therein would have been passed on to-and-between those who had a privelege of working with the 1st generation landscape architects or studying under them in the initial years. Also answers to many questions on the personalities themselves remain unfortunately personal or even taboo.
Why did they choose to study this subject?
How did their Architectural schooling/ Town Planning studies discuss outdoor planning/ site design?
Who were their mentors/ who advised them/ shined the light on their path?
How did they evolve their philosophy and design methodology?
How did they keep track of emerging world views at a time when television and telephones were a privileged possession?
Did they get influenced? why? why not?
Did their projects take longer to complete?
Did they have clients who wanted tomorrow's deliverables given to them yesterday?
Looking back, how different is the sense of being in a niche role, considering that the profession has more people in it now?
How did they feel when the next set of foreign educated landscape architects landed on Indian soil?
Which is the first post-independence Public Landscape project?
Which is the first post-independence Public Landscape project?
When and where was the First ever documented project/article on Landscape design published in India?
When was the first landscape competition held in India? what happened?
Who is India's first female landscape architect? where is she now?
When was the first landscape competition held in India? what happened?
Who is India's first female landscape architect? where is she now?
Which Indian landscape project won Awards in India and Internationally for the first time ever?
Trivial questions? I don't think so. It is perhaps such questions apart from the more profound ones that have given us critical masterpieces like Architecture and Independence (John Lang, Madhavi and Miki Desai). But even they don't get anywhere close to acknowledging the advent of Landscape Architecture in modern India. On the subject of the evolution of the Landscape profession specific to a country and time period, Invisible Gardens: The Search for Modernism in the American Landscape (Peter Walker and Melanie Simo) is definitely a good read.
The above mentioned Landscape Architects' body of work ran parallel to many landmark events that influenced Indian Architecture and Landscape Architecture since 1947 (Corbusier, Kahn, Kanvinde, Koenigsberger, The Ford Foundation, Patrick Geddes, Garret Eckbo, Landscape Masters programmes, more foreign returned Landscape Architects, the Aga Khan Foundation, PWD Modernism, Town Planning Schemes, Asian Games etc). Quite eclectic from 1950 to 1982!
It doesn't seem apparent unless one really sits down and examines, that there was indeed a lot of shift happening in the Design world that would have influenced SOME aspects of Landscape design (such as public spaces) that is not documented...yet. The Journal of Landscape Architecture (by Brij and Geeta Dua) comes with a treasureable feature per issue about one individual who has contributed to the understanding and awareness of the subject. Somehow, it is not going to be enough if one tries to piece together the feature articles to understand how, where and when the shifts happened, and who were responsible.
Also such inquiry will perhaps acknowledge the mother of all questions and its answer...was it an architect who said "I need a Landscape Architect!"?
It would be truly worthwhile to dispel the embarrasing lack of awareness of the beginnings of contemporary landscape architecture in India and its biggest, most difficult and/ or best projects in this light.
There has to be atleast be A narrative of how it all began.
Trivial questions? I don't think so. It is perhaps such questions apart from the more profound ones that have given us critical masterpieces like Architecture and Independence (John Lang, Madhavi and Miki Desai). But even they don't get anywhere close to acknowledging the advent of Landscape Architecture in modern India. On the subject of the evolution of the Landscape profession specific to a country and time period, Invisible Gardens: The Search for Modernism in the American Landscape (Peter Walker and Melanie Simo) is definitely a good read.
The above mentioned Landscape Architects' body of work ran parallel to many landmark events that influenced Indian Architecture and Landscape Architecture since 1947 (Corbusier, Kahn, Kanvinde, Koenigsberger, The Ford Foundation, Patrick Geddes, Garret Eckbo, Landscape Masters programmes, more foreign returned Landscape Architects, the Aga Khan Foundation, PWD Modernism, Town Planning Schemes, Asian Games etc). Quite eclectic from 1950 to 1982!
It doesn't seem apparent unless one really sits down and examines, that there was indeed a lot of shift happening in the Design world that would have influenced SOME aspects of Landscape design (such as public spaces) that is not documented...yet. The Journal of Landscape Architecture (by Brij and Geeta Dua) comes with a treasureable feature per issue about one individual who has contributed to the understanding and awareness of the subject. Somehow, it is not going to be enough if one tries to piece together the feature articles to understand how, where and when the shifts happened, and who were responsible.
Also such inquiry will perhaps acknowledge the mother of all questions and its answer...was it an architect who said "I need a Landscape Architect!"?
It would be truly worthwhile to dispel the embarrasing lack of awareness of the beginnings of contemporary landscape architecture in India and its biggest, most difficult and/ or best projects in this light.
There has to be atleast be A narrative of how it all began.
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