Recent relaxation in lockdown allowed us to complete our long pending work which requires us to visit outside of the home. While coming back I spotted leisure valley park which had renewable energy station as well. Since I had never been there so thought why not let's learn something new today and bring something back home for the architecture community too since I have been running busy and little distant from blogging.
Coming back to the track feels good. So, here's a
Brief on what's in the publications today-
A stroll into lush green park with lucrative landscaping. A dive into Rajiv Gandhi Renewable energy station located within the park. The total area of land is 1.6 acers and is massively operated by the government in partnership with private firm.
Considering the size of land there were obviously multiple gates, we took our passage through the 3rd gate which allowed direct entry to the mini energy building amid the beauty of nature.
This large leisure valley park was inaugurated in 2009 and is still running great. considering to the fact that this kind of concept is unique in the state it was well planned and executed on time.
Lack of people bought lots of comfort as we wanted a safe stroll but the disadvantage we faced was the "close for visitors" boar on the building, since they showcases the effective energy usage to people but we were just allowed to watch exterior of the building and that led me to run towards internet to grasp the information I needed for the center.
There was a cluster of three blocks of buildings which were completely shut for us (visitors) to go through but they had angular shapes and were planned around a extruded cube kind of structure which had "H A R E D A" embossed on the wall and it stands for Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency.
This being located in Gurgaon's nicest area has a massive footprints on regular days.
Spotting these massive solar panels and an enclosed well behind bought a n urge in me to understand how it works?
Scrolling through few webpages I discovered that entire park works on renewable energy be it lighting, fountains, watering the plants and grass, the artificial lake and a beautiful café(which I would describe later)
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This is the list of things and equipment which comprises the part of this centre which is a long list but how can I justify the subject without mentioning what's inside.
Discovering more about the renewable center we got to know that this centre and landscaping was done under supervision of an Architect from Delhi who won the tender of the project and implemented in the best way possible.
To go another step ahead, the NGO which got a tender to help maintain the land with government built an-
Eco- Friendly Café
This café called Roots because everything is eco- friendly here. Which is so interesting to witness as it's actually quite rare to have such kind of services where,
a. Organic food
b. Cooking done using solar cooker
c. Hot water produced by solar water heating system
d. All the lighting is produced by solar photovoltaic system
e. Recycle/Reuse of waste water.
This was the back side of café
The people were happy eating there, food was super delicious and the interior was quite sober but perfect to represent what values they stand for.
One could easily spot the thatcher or I may say the pitched roof over here which is super uncommon in the city but this gave quite a different and cosy look also those bamboo façade and sun shades with natural materials uplifts the vibe.
Strolling ahead, we were surrounded by greenery, fountains, swings, sculptures, gazebo and more----
These were the few set of swings we first encountered as switching our ways from the centre to the park in order to witness the beautiful landscaping, Actually we weren't able to take a stroll of entire park considering it being 1.2 acres large it was hard though1 But we managed to hung over few of beautiful statues.
There was not just one statue but many, including cute little elephants to lions.
How interesting are the inclusion of such stone statues it brings in the true beauty and honour ship to the crafters who made these sculptures out of single stone, here I am guessing marble.
To be precise there were multiple sculptures but these stricken me the most.
The theme continued and these sandstone's benches took my heart away. The detailing and conceptual thought behind the benches was appreciable. This really shows the ongoing theme and wonders of the designer's creativity.
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The beautiful flower show is always organised every year but due to pandemic it wasn't organised but here's a little peek on how wonderful it looks.
Anyways did I told you about the musical fountain show during night which is always a tourist's attraction but since I live two hours away It has been a challenge to witness the musical fountain show.
Moving on to Gazebo, there were plenty of them around the park, I was able to cover just one section of the land so Found my eyes struck on this beautiful piece of art gazebo-
This particular one had no seating but it was all stone work and the crafter deserved some appreciation. Hoe interesting is the presence of such elements between the natural landscape , it truly connects us with the nature and creates a refreshing and beautiful experience.
With creeper's pergolas were these gym equipment in the park, as one can spot at a distant red and yellow coloured equipments. Such set was present at every chunk of land within a specific gap.
I prefer them to be refreshing and healthy. Since there are many yoga and gym classes being conduct here, it's always easy to use such equipments.
Concluding
All in all it was a wonderful and learning experience. Please note that all the pictures of the landscape shows just one section of land since we were super exhausted to discover entire park. Here we end up this publication with lots of freshness and positivity of nature and people working towards creating renewable resources and saving the exhaustible gifts of nature!
