Memories of Water

Landscapes can be identified as relationships between landforms and water; each shaping the other. More so, in a semi arid climate, where water is ephemeral - abundant in the monsoon and gradually disappearing, to almost without a trace in peak summer. The water as it fades away also modifies the green (vegetation) – from a deep saturated green in the rains to a brown in summer, this dynamic character gives new meanings and experiences to the place as one starts establishing relationships between the constants and the ever changing.

Ahmedabad is one such city in a hot, semi arid climate (max temp 45 deg c, min 8 deg c.) – its setting coming alive with the rains (avg annual rainfall 800 mm over 40 rain days). The site for the project is located on the outskirts of this vast flatland where even a minor depression in the ground can transform the landscape. The projects seeks to reveal this embedded dynamic and performative quality of the setting by bringing out the ever-changing relationship of the land and water, by shaping the ground that retains some memory of the water that has gone,  but will also return.