Shanti Sarovar

The site is an example of damaged Landscape due to extensive stone and mud quarrying. The first aim was to heal the earth's wounds by developing a "Green Campus" utilising eco-friendly & ecological measures, which would have about 70% of site-area allotted to urban forestry, gardens, man-made lakes and recreational facilities including meditation. A massive program of plantation, landscape development and restoration became a central part of the project.

While a portion of the land had to be covered up with the client's program requirements & landscape development, since the site had a sprinkling of uniquely positioned large boulders — which are characteristic of Hyderabad's landscape (now rapidly disappearing) — every effort was made at the planning stage to preserve these. A judicious use of low-lying land is made throughout the project.

Any loose rubble found on the site was crushed & used in place of river-sand in the mixture for the RCC frame structures, as well as for laying the internal pathways & road infrastructure.

Rather then fill-up the quarry with waste & landfill – which, besides flattening the topographic uniqueness of the site, would also have been a immense cost-overhead — we chose to build in, over, and around the large boulders, precipices & the newly–exposed rocky landscape — keeping its sharp cliffs and quarried-in water ponds intact.

Some of the exposed edges & deep ravines of the old quarry remain, while the rest are blanketed with new soil and plant-cover added to begin the soil remediation process for nature’s rehabilitation upon a site that has seen many years of heavy quarrying and industrial usage. The existing ravines provide adequate potential for harnessing wind and solar energy in future.

Below are a few concept sketches, design drawings, and photographs from the on-going site–works.

The largest quarry pit has been converted into an artificial lake. Seasonal rainwater flows from the surrounding hills and finds its home here. It supplies the dry site with the necessary nourishment, humidity & cooling. It is a paradisaical site, in which the summer-roasted campus buildings comfortably sit year-round.

"Shanti Sarovar" is a highly site-specific solution. While not every client has the same rocky cliffs-and-valleys, many projects come with their own set of up-and-down constraints, which we try to convert into opportune qualities.