Ahmedabad: The Zen Garden and Kaizen Hall at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) have been designed by two city-based architects – Anushri Patel (25) and Neha Rajora (34).
Both of them said that they had made a joint effort to preserve the elements of the traditional Japanese garden at the Garden Zen in Ahmedabad, which was inaugurated online by PM Narendra Modi last week.
Neha Rajora and Anushri Patel visited Japan and spent two weeks there in April 2019 freeing themselves with design, and more importantly, ethos and philosophy, which summarized traditional Japanese gardens, before they could replicate the classic Japanese elements at Zen Garden and Kaizen Hall, in Ama.
“The 15-day training period in Japan helps us appreciate the feeling of mystery, use points and elements and other basic principles of the Japanese Gardens.
We have made a joint effort to keep this alive at the Garden Zen,” Anushri Patel said, who was studying at Architecture Association, London, when he visited Japan for training.
“Japanese traditional parks are considered more than holy and serene places and have deeper meaning in attached to them.
We have tried to create a similar atmosphere of peace in a 5,000 square foot area by including most of the Japanese garden elements,” said Rajora, which has studied the architecture of the University of Illinois, USA, and specializes in landscape architecture.
The architect said that the unique thing about this project was Awaji’s tile – a gift from Hyogo, a Japanese province.
“We use tiles throughout the park to show off friendship between the two countries using it on track, the Zen Park area is dry and even creates a symbol of Gujarat and Hyogo,” said the two architects.
However, it is not only replicating the basic elements of the Japanese garden in Ahmedabad.
Actually there is a lot of adaptation to do.
“AHMedabad’s climate conditions are very different from Japan.
We use flora and fauna which is very similar to those in Japan,” Rajora said.
Kaizen Hall has been arranged with a vision of facilitating different Japanese ethical learning and values.
“We design it in a way that will represent the interior of the Japanese traditional tea house with a circular window, to provide amazing garden views,” Patel said.