Orchids Forest Park

PROBLEM:
Our client had a commitment to greening a reclaimed patch of land within a Parsi colony in the suburbs of Mumbai. We were asked what we would do given a chance to work on this. Was there a way to make something that would be useful to the community within the colony?

The site was a barren acre-or-so piece of land that had been so far used only as a debris dump. The soil was full of concrete blocks, limestone chunks and sod. A neighboring slum had even been using the gullies around the boundary as a toilet. Limited water was a concern, and growing plants that could deal with the degraded soil and exposed conditions would be crucial.


SOLUTION:

Our solution in this case was to restore the ecology of the site, and create a system that could in the long term become a sort of forest park for the community to use as a space to recreate.

A tank was made for water storage, and we created a recirculating system with five ponds and several streams.

Overflow systems were created so if any water spilled out, it would flow in sub-surface channels that led to groups of trees and plants that we brought in, minimizing water loss.

We designed and created small ecological patches that would bring back birds, butterflies, and frogs that could control any mosquito adults and larvae breeding in ditches and gullies next to the site.


Gravel paths were made for people to walk through the park, and large rocks were placed by hand for people to sit on, that framed certain view of ponds or views of the space, or were under shade trees.








By creating an overhead canopy as quickly as possible and allowing many wild plants to colonize along with our plantings, evaporation loss from water is lowered.

We visited a few times after we finished, and now one can regularly see different types of songbirds, finches and herons that visit, and there is even a resident Kingfisher at one of the ponds! Life self organizes, and were glad for it.

Client: Orchids Etc
Location: Jogeshwari, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
Date: 2011
Link: www.orchidsetc.in