The Greener Side

For a landscape design project in the city,almost every evening before summer, I used to go out in the sun for a field study. Initially, I considered it as a big difficulty, but very soon, I started appreciating the freshness it brought to my daily work routine.

I would be all by myself, equipped with CAD plans, satellite maps, hat, water bottle, camera, some markers in my site pant pockets and a very alert mind. The first task used to be to get to the exact zone on the site and then to orient myself as per the maps. Then would start a visual survey , drawing up quick sectional details, marking up the drawings with green and red sketch pens and then taking pictures — first the important ones and then of some street cats, a bird’s nest found on a tree , an unusual flower or a rare paving type. After exactly an hour of a great deal of hard work, I would look forward to my chicken roll and juice break. Depending on the zone on the site, I would eat in my car, parked at an interesting spot to get framed views of the new buildings or at times under the shade of a nice Delonix that I had discovered on a stray lawn patch.

There were times when a cat would accompany me from under the shrubs and seldom, a bird would tweet along, naively disturbing my tree survey count. Despite the harsh sun burning my face and soaking my shirt, I was just so glad to escape the regular time frames.

For the two hours that I used to be on site, I would forget everything else and just be in my own work world of relating maps to the actual site conditions and making mental recordings and then graphic.  I realized, something done with maximum concentration brings in a sense of determination and enjoyment in spite of it being tiring. I had always wanted to get a closer look at the typical local villa gardens in dense residential neighbourhoods. This exercise gave me a chance to actually know how many trees and what kind of plantation each and every house has. I got to know the secret shaded shortcuts along the villa walls, reminding of my childhood hiding places.  I know exactly where a full grown date palm stands and how sweet its fruit is. I know now, in which block, someday some designer got inspired to create a “Falling Waters” without water, in the middle of the desert!  I know that there are exactly a hundred trees that line the mosque street and that there is a lonely rose bush on the less visited side of the pocket park.

The most memorable part was that on one of the site visit days my zone of survey was very close to my husband’s site office. He just happened to give me a call and I said I was right outside his building! That evening we had a romantic coffee date at the gas station, just like our good old college days…

I went back to work and documented all the site findings in numbers, reports and images, hoping to somehow capture that spirit and my secret life of each evening into the design concepts.I do not know if I did... But I do know,whenever I pass along those roads, thoughts will always recall my experience of getting to see the greener side of the city that added some greener moments to my life.