On Wednesday we went to Ghat Ki Guni which is a garden on the outskirts of Jaipur. It was very interesting for a few reasons. It was completely walled off and was only visible once inside the walls or on top of (which could only be accessed from inside). It created a kind of 'fake' world if you will, where the inside was very pristine and the outside was filled with poverty, burnt, and run-down buildings, and overall the 'normal' city. I don't like fake spaces; if I'm going to design something, I want it to reflect the location. Even the hillsides adjacent to the garden were walled off; which is unfortunate because that would have been a neat element to incorporate.
The style is based of the Mughal gardens which is nice and symmetrical... but very boring. I feel like I'm looking at the same gardens over and over again, no matter which place I go to. I want to see a design that reflects the local area, not the style from a completely different city. If I want to see the Mughal gardens, I will go to Delhi.
There is a very interesting irrigation and water retention system here and it seems so simple, but also very efficient. And then I look and see people water the garden with hoses, trying to get grass to grow in a desert and it cracks me up
There is also benches on the grass but no easy access to get there. In some instances, the edges are taller than the actual benches. Most of the edges are a good two feet higher than the grass so its tough for a short person like myself; and I'm not short in comparison to the general population in India. I hunted for those steps and they were never to be found.
Despite all that, it is a pretty garden and to most people its probably awesome.
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