Symphony Forest Park

Symphony Limited has developed a public park owned by Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation in Bodakdev, Ahmedabad. Spread over 11,000 m2, this park is designed and developed imagining a forest in the urban concrete jungle.

Not long ago, this park was an abandoned land and dumping ground for the nearby neighborhoods filled with construction debris and garbage with a dried-up lake. There was very little visual and physical access to the plot. The idea of developing a public park with a forest in mind was triggered by mapping the existing public parks in the vicinity. Most of the parks in the surroundings do cater to the domestic and residential level of public spaces with ample open lawn for gathering and playing.

Surrounded by corporate offices around, the park can reduce the open lawn areas and increase the green cover with densely planted trees. With rising pollution levels, the idea of the green lung for the city strengthened.  There were 65 existing trees, a dried-up well, a dried lake and various birds and squirrels living there.

The design process began with mapping the trees, topography, shade, soil conditions, etc., which informed the design choices. Using existing trees shade, paths were carved to ensure people can walk in the hot dry climate of the city while the remaining trees and shrubs grow and develop. The park also needed public facilities that are provided at the entrance for easy access and minimum buildup in the forest area.

30,000 saplings planted in “islands” have grown creating the forest trail experience. Each zone is specifically designed to achieve a jungle atmosphere. The lake is revived, reshaped to increase its surface area and reduce depth; it is now home to local fish and turtles. The topography is altered to ensure the surface rainwater drains in the well which now has been converted into a reservoir.

The forest now has over 250 plant species many of which are rare trees of Ahmedabad while others have mythological, religious and ecological values. Now there are more birds, squirrels and insects. Winding paths with large boulders and scattered seating areas lead through the park in a loop.

The topography was modified in one area to create an amphitheater where people could gather. The informative panels describing the botanical names and common names of the plant species are part of the educative intention of the park. The entrance of the park is a subtle gesture with universal accessibility to a plaza that houses the sculpture “Sangati” and the mural “Sayojan”. The sculpture recalls Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5” with a composition of natural and artificial elements, while the mural expresses this composition as a continuous process of human and natural realms.

The park is open to the people and visited widely by the nearby residents, corporate staff, school groups, nature lovers, photographers, and by everyone who wishes to indulge in nature.