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Sriganesh Rajendran the Cosmos – a Theme for Garden Art Name Stories

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Sriganesh Rajendran the Cosmos – a Theme for Garden Art Name Stories art in landscape | Sriganesh Rajendran The Cosmos – a theme for Garden Art within a garden setting. The nomencla- cated to Astronomy and the other to ture, purpose, readability and expres- Astrophysics.4 The Devayani is block The Cosmos as a Garden Art theme can sion of astrophysics and astronomy as structured around three courtyards, with be noticed in at least three examples – leitmotifs in them can be experienced its four blocks named after ancient In- Jantar Mantar observatories (Sawai Jai as stories. Such stories at IUCAA are dian astronomers. Many names at Singh, various, 1727-1734) 1, the Gar- accessed hereon, with the license to not IUCAA contain ancient stories.5 The den of Cosmic Speculation (Charles to dwell upon every single detail, keep- name of Dr. Jayant Narlikar is synony- Jencks and Maggie Keswick, Scotland ing some clues to oneself. 3 mous with IUCAA as Founder Direc- 1989-2007) 2 and the campus of the In- tor, his preference for Pune University ter University of Astronomy and Astro- Name stories Campus as the place and his sugges- physics – IUCAA in Pune, completed tions of the scientific themes recurring in 1993, and designed bv Charles Within the 411-acre campus of Pune as art installations.6 Professionally, the Correa, with the landscape designed by University campus IUCAA occupies a architect and landscape architect’s long Kishore Pradhan. These semi-private site area of approximately 20 acres with collaboration perhaps finds its most spaces rely on overt and subtle sym- its core area – the Devayani block – fluid expression at IUCAA in terms of bols to express some of their key ideas nestled between two roads, one dedi- scale, variety, resolution and meaning.7 landscape 80 no. 30 | jan–march 2011 art in landscape | Place stories The arrival/exit is defined by two swerving black masonry walls flanking the road, symbolizing the formless blackness of outer space.8 At times, the masonry and the staggered entrance allude to the old wadas in Pune while a replica of the Samrat Yantra9 beckons the Pune sky from the opposite side of road. Here at the entrance/ exit, in one sweep, symbolic references to place and ideology, bind two gardens of the cosmos separated in time. Recalling the original and altered site character, landscape architect Kishore Pradhan points out that “...the original landscape elements are the banyan trees that punctuate open space. IUCAA is ringed with a belt of suitable semi- evergreen trees, generating a pleasant ambience contrasting with the monoc- ulture dry-deciduous landscape of the Pune University. A better landscape setting to IUCAA keeping in mind the poor soil and low groundwater was the FACING PAGE [LEFT TO RIGHT] THIS PAGE key challenge...”.10 His colleague Prof. The Jantar Mantar, Jaipur with the various instru- IUCAA site plan showing the three zones and two ments designed and built by Sawai Jaisingh main roads. The central portion is the Devayani Vartak recalls the construction of the within a high walled enclosure. [Image source: Au- block. [Original image source: Wikimapia 02-02- inch-precise granite kund and the suc- thor] 2010] cessful transplantation of trees falling Galactic space as mounds and waterbodies. Gar- LEGEND within the building footprint as key den of Cosmic Speculation, Scotland. [Image 1. Entrance 9. Library source: www.romankrznaric.com/Gardening/ 2. Kund 10. Students’ Hostels steps in realizing the project as 3. Black Hole 11. Guest Apartments cosmicspeculation2.jpg] concieved. The grafting of specimen 4. Roche Lobes 12. Exhibition Gallery Representation of a black hole at the Garden of 5. Serpenski’s Gasket & Auditorium from Newton’s original apple tree in 6. Faculty Offices 13. Science Park IUCAA is another well-known story.11 Cosmic Speculation, Scotland. [Image source: 7. Lecture Halls 14. Samrat Yantra Wikimedia commons] 8. Computer Centre landscape no. 30 | jan–march 2011 81 art in landscape | interpret the design as an energy field, black hole, yantra, mandala or a kund, and their interchangeability in available rhetoric.15 Despite horticultural devia- tions in later years, this principal court- yard has retained its original essence and remains the space with the highest visual recall in the entire campus. The posture of the large statues of New- ton, Aryabhatta, Galileo and Einstein in the main courtyard allude to their contribution to astral science. Notwith- standing Dr. Narlikar’s joke about Newton trying to solve the problem of an apple fallen below a banyan tree, the statues collectively convey a profound message apart from lessons in architec- tural scale. An ancillary courtyard ac- commodates an imaginative expression of a Binary star 16 using an existing and a transplanted banyan tree. A plaque explains the phenomenon in brevity, leaving adequate scope for planar and Astral stories volumetric visual co-relation. A Fractal garden in the form of a Sierpenski tri- In the Devayani block, the four major universe”.13 However, the flat ground angle forms the theme of the third elements of the Institute – the Library, plane and the vastness of the courtyard courtyard with unexplored volumetric Faculty offices, Lecture halls and Stu- downplay the powerful analogy of a possibilities where later in-house hor- dent facilities define a large courtyard void.14 An elevated viewing point and ticultural forays have replaced the origi- themed with an image of a black hole an imagination of the faceted edges of nal planting of Orange trees and seen through a radio telescope.12 The the kund as pulsating lines is therefore Setcrasea purpurea. composition is fringed with a stepped necessary in order to grasp the full kund – a “metaphor of our expanding ‘gravity’ of the design. It leaves one to THIS COLUMN | ABOVE & CENTRE THIS COLUMN | ABOVE & CENTRE Planar boundaries and three dimensional mesh Sierpenski triangle- iterative progression of ge- of a Binary star. [Source: e-education.psu.edu] ometry. [Source: nbickford.wordpress.com] Banyan trees as Binary stars and the plaque il- The planter bed today with flowering shrubs. [Im- lustrating the concept. [Image source: Author] age source: Kishore Pradhan and Associates] landscape 82 no. 30 | jan–march 2011 art in landscape | ABOVE Open space, Garden Art and people at IUCAA. [Image source: Kishore Pradhan and Associates] landscape no. 30 | jan–march 2011 83 landscapeart in landscape design | | ABOVE Main Courtyard with matured additional trees. Circa 2005. [Image source: Author] RIGHT Newton gazing at the fallen apple. The statue of Netwon is at the north-west corner of the court- yard. [Image source: Author] landscape 84 no. 30 | jan–march 2011 art in landscape | Learning about Garden Art from IUCAA Much of our landscapes tend to incor- notes artistic manipulation; and the garden. Noticeably, IUCAA’s court- porate art flippantly, ‘on the sole theory qualities of space, form, meaning and yards are rarely stepped on to; usage that no theory is needed for its plan- experience that emerge. being limited to the perimeter, but when ning’ 17 thereby putting attractive art the users look up from their desks, the pieces in them and hoping that some IUCAA oscillates tenuously between gardens engage them fleetingly at the ‘meaning’ will emerge. In this light, saying too much and saying little while least. In that moment they communi- IUCAA can be seen as questioning the relying on rhetoric and simplification cate something out-of-the-ordinary. The basis of Art in landscape design includ- of form to express difficult-to-grasp allusions at the entrance/exit may be ing the need for art; the role of the art concepts. It rarely saddles the viewer subjective; yet, between arrival and exit as a theory of landscape design; the with high-intelligence participation oth- time, IUCAA is a vivid attempt to en- form that art should take in the design erwise needed to make sense of such gage with an unfathomable natural di- of landscapes, since ‘–scape’ itself con- themes, a criticism leveled at Jencks’ mension – the Cosmos. landscape no. 30 | jan–march 2011 85 art in landscape | 3. The author expresses his heartfelt thanks to landscape architect Mr. Kishore Pradhan and his long-time colleague Ar. (Prof). Ramesh Vartak for enthusiastically sharing their experiences of IUCAA. The narratives referred corroborate many of the cues present in the outdoor design. “give me the license not to dwell upon every single detail, allow me to keep some clues to myself”. Cf. Orhan Pamuk. My Name is Red (Lon- don: Faber & Faber 2001) Ch 4, p 20. 4. Named after Dr. Meghnad Saha and Dr. Vainu Bappu, two stalwarts in Indian Astrophysics and Astronomy respectively, the two roads dissect the campus and form the main circulation around IUCAA. The campus is in three parts as a conse- quence, zoned as residential, academic and pub- References lic activity area. As an architectural garden IUCAA is 1. Sawai Jaisingh built his observatories at Delhi, 5. Devayani (Sans. Mastermind, syn. Andromeda galaxy). The Indian astronomers are Aryabhatta, akin to a bioscope and best experienced Jaipur, Mathura, Ujjain, and Varanasi. The ety- mology for the term stems from the Sanskrit Varahamihira, Bramhagupta and Bhaskara. Other through its apertures—a Charles Correa words for ‘instrument’ (yantra) and ‘formulae’ names include Akashganga – the staff housing leitmotif. Notably, IUCAA is indeed a (mantra) – tools for scientific pursuit. Whether named after the milky way galaxy and Aditi (lit. “rich reservoir of images and beliefs, Sawai Jai Singh referred to these observatories boundless, also a mythical star) – the public zone. The hostels – Nalanda and Takshashila – like the transparent layer of a palimp- by this collective term is not known; possibly of colloquial origin. The architectural scale of the recall ancient India’s glorious academic institu- sest-with all the colours and patterns instruments allows reading the Jantar Mantar as tions.
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