Architects vision: Inner Challenges Centre of Excellence

When we first visited the Inner Challenges site it became clear to us that our mandate of healing the landscape was appropriate for the place. The site was quite beautiful in parts with coconut orchards as tree cover. However, we felt we had a greater responsibility as stewards of land to replenish and resurrect Nature. We had discovered remnants of an earlier water channel on site and had hoped to recreate it. We wanted to intersperse the orchard with endemic trees for color, variety and fragrance and to slowly bring back butterflies and birds in the gardens. We thought of supplementing plants with edible ones that earlier formed part of traditional-folk medicine or balanced diet.


My vision of the Center : Akshay Kaul, Landscape Architect


When we first visited the Inner Challenges site it became clear to us that our mandate of healing the landscape was appropriate for the place. The site was quite beautiful in parts with coconut orchards as tree cover. However, we felt we had a greater responsibility as stewards of land to replenish and resurrect Nature. We had discovered remnants of an earlier water channel on site and had hoped to recreate it. We wanted to intersperse the orchard with endemic trees for color, variety and fragrance and to slowly bring back butterflies and birds in the gardens. We thought of supplementing plants with edible ones that earlier formed part of traditional-folk medicine or balanced diet.
		As the project moved from design to reality slowly over dreams began to take shape. First came the six-acre edible - ayurvedic gardens with ponds, water channels, nursery and crops as green manure. Within months the some of the trees got taller than us and crops of paddy and legumes swayed with the breeze. Every time we came back to the garden we discovered new smells from aromatic herbs or fruits along the jogging track in this tranquil landscape. As months progressed other gardens water channels, pond, pathways and bridges began to take shape much like we had thought.
With a minimalist approach we have attempted to play few strategies moves of bringing water, more than 40 varieties of new trees, greater number of shrubs, ornamental grasses, medicinal plants as ground cover and our favorite aquatic plants in landscape. The most interesting part for us was the gradual take over of the landscape execution by the people on the site. They gradually aligned with our larger landscape objectives and began to take initiatives on their own. It was fascinating to hear botanical names of plants from them, new places to source them, propagation techniques, quick suggestions and solutions for addressing small site problems as if Nature had empowered them through us.

Akshay Kaul, 203 South Extension Plaza, NDSE II New Delhi - 110049 Phone: 011 2625 4004, 011 2625 2540 Contact the Architect