Desai Juhi Sanjay

UR3005

The Ground Project

The project is an attempt to explore the possible alternatives to depleted lands created because of human dependencies. 13,200 cubic m/day Ash, a byproduct of our coal dependency, is generated in the Thermal Power Plant that provides energy for the city of Gandhinagar. This ash heavy in metallic contents ( Arsenic, Lead, etc.), dumped on lands as a slurry, affects the soil, water, air, and eventually, the biodiversity health in and around it thus making the ground dumping lands of the city. 
 With the slow shift in the energy sector from fossil fuels to renewable energy resources for energy generation, the generation of ash has reduced over the years, and the utilization of the same has increased. This leaves us with vast volumes of dug-out lands that hold alternate potential than just being filled and capped. This is where a placemaking intervention is made in the landscape that celebrates these neglected grounds using soil to reaffirm the identity of the land while inviting people and water to meander along. Thus, remediation is achieved as a subset of placemaking by reshaping the approach toward the ground.   

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Site Findings

Module 1 : Tracing Grey Grounds. Mapping Activities, Ground Textures and Identifying Site Conditions. Based on various site visits, the exisitng conditions of the ponds and its surroundings were mapped to understand the existing conditons on the site. The definition of “ecosystem” was expanded beyond living things and the mapping of the site was done based on parameters that include : 1. Extent 2. Components 3. Scale and Timeline 4. Set of Animal and Human Interactions 5. Infrastructure

Existing Street Sections and identifying the problems - The fundamental core of all of which revealed that before anything it was the Soil, water and air in and around the place that needed help.

The Approach was ideated by raising two questions 1. What can be done in the defunctional pond ? 2. What can be done in the active pond?

Phasing sections and details.

Proposed Plan

Part Plans

Using spaces during different seasonality

View Overlooking the Ash Pond with the Thermal Power Plant in the skyline Finally, the design is visualised where the contours (design intervention) in the landscape becomes the key design descision which drives the Ground Project. It is where the water is given a direction to flow. It is where human descent is derived from. And it is what remediates the ground step by step.