Legacy: The park is designed along radial zones emanating from the industrial building we chose to retain onsite, namely:

  • Ground zero (the MIC and Sevin plants)
  • The viewing tower
  • The Baolis ( underground wells): where the workers took refuge on the night of the tragedy.

These undulating zones overlap and intersect, providing a matrix of interconnected nodes, paths and sectors. The nodes provide the focal points, be it as installations, performance areas or onsite research labs. The paths direct movement, such that no part of the site remains inaccessible or underutilized. This integrative framework for ecological organization provides a distinct over all identity to the park while being flexible and adaptive. Each sector uses slope gradients, solar aspects, adjacent contexts and vegetation to generate a robust localized identity and accommodate specific uses be it ecological reflection, commemoration of the tragedy, passive recreation or active sports.

The park capitalizes on the views of the factory that are unique to this site. Cyclists, joggers, picnickers and pedestrians will find in the Park an interconnected web of pathways that offer a seemingly inexhaustible array of experiences. Various theme walks, cycling routes and trails serve several purposes: to create and improve green infrastructure, provide more recreational opportunities, appeal to tourists, and increase the understanding of the site’s history among local residents as well as visitors.

The Park is committed to involving the community, instilling a feeling of ownership in the park and generating an ongoing sense of stewardship. It will be a destination for exploration and learning—a place that defines and practices sustainability education. This will extend the park beyond its natural borders through educational and social connections.

Education: By virtue of its context, the park can be a destination for exploration and learning—a place that defines and practices sustainability education. This theme is integrated through juxtaposition, comparision and emphasis in the landscape though theme based paths that tell the story of the “Industry” and “Ecology”—with a pronounced emphasis on decontamination. All these components of the landscape – the onsite labs, testing pits and wells, green houses and bioremediation plantation –come together as a dynamic public laboratory to the research facility.

Sustainability: An important aspect is the selection of the plant species. The plantation scheme comprises of species used in phytoremediation.1Native eucalyptus trees, flowering plants such as gerbera and chrysanthemums, bamboo, Indian mustard, industrial hemp, amaranth, sunflower, poplar, brake fern and even vegetables like carrots, broccoli and spinach have proved effective in removing chemicals like Cadmium, lead, nickel, Selenium, sulphur, lead chromium and other toxic materials like dichlorobenzines from contaminated soil. These plants and trees can be used ingenuously as landscape elements like bamboo groves or sunflower fields, while signage can inform the visitors of their toxic cleansing properties.

The Event: The park is setting for cultural events of different scales throughout the year. The main event will be the annual anniversary of the tragedy which would bring to together people from around the world on a large scale. Every year, the night of December 3 sees a festival, a concert, a celebration - at the genesis of grief. The world mourns the lost, the dead, the dying. The world also exults – in the joy of a slow process of healing beginning to show, of a city picking up its pieces and moving ahead, of a bruised and battered people slowly lifting up their chins and looking the future straight in the eye.

  • 1. Phytoremediation is a general term used to describe various mechanisms by which living plants alter the chemical composition of the soil matrix in which they are growing. Essentially, it is the use of green plants to clean-up contaminated soils, sediments, or water. Phyto-remediation is potential low energy, low maintenance and it has a 'natural' appeal to citizens. Several crops may need to be grown over successive seasons to fully clean up the site.
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