Design proposals

In April this year, concerned residents of Auroville circulated a petition requesting a halt of the excavation of the Matrimandir Lake to evaluate an alternative design proposal and start an integrated development process.

Recently, as there was widespread concern about what was happening with the Matrimandir lake excavation, a task force was created at a General Meeting to prepare a design brief that would frame the aesthetic, environmental, functional and technical parameters to undertake the preparation of an alternative concept design.

In August last year, Omar, Mona and David made a presentation to the community about the next steps they envisaged after the Dreamweaving on the Crown experiment [see AV Today no.

Work on the Garden of the Unexpected, on the western edge of the Matrimandir gardens oval, has picked up speed again with a tree platform having been built.

The Matrimandir executives are starting a new international open design call for the next four gardens around the Matrimandir, namely Light, Life, Power and Wealth.

In early January, the team supervising the process announced that a final design had been decided upon for the Garden of the Unexpected at Matrimandir (see AVToday November, 2018).

Dear Auroville Today, I would like to bring to your attention a mistake in your recent article on the Garden of the Unexpected (AV Today, August 2018).

An innovative process to design a new garden close to the Matrimandir is underway. What is it trying to achieve? What does it involve?

The Matrimandir is calling for design proposals for the Garden of the Unexpected. This garden was described by Roger Anger, the chief architect of Auroville, as a place where a child could have an initiatory experience, a place of wonder, a garden for discovering the unexpected.