From the time when Landscape Architecture was introduced to the country as a serious vocation in the 1900s, to the present time, there has been a perceptible shift in the conversations that surround the process, and the very practice of the profession. Collectively, there was a need to come together to discuss the progression of the Landscape Design profession. And so, this became the basis for the Webinar series - Saturday Sojourns.
The first edition - Saturday Sojourns - Modern Landscape Architecture in India - came from an understanding that avenues must be created for the Landscape Architects of today - practitioners whose work is poised to guide the trajectory of the profession over time. It also hoped to answer questions pertaining to the influences that guide young practitioners and professionals in the country, pedagogy, and design philosophy. They are conversations stemming from curiosity; a conversation amongst peers who are invested in informing how Landscape Architecture is practiced in India.
We invited 12 landscape design concerns across the country to undertake these conversations - using their work only in so far as it was demonstrative of, or added to these ideas. Having presented for 20 minutes, each presenter engaged in a discussion with individuals who have been a part of the design fraternity for over 25 years - some researchers and academicians, some practitioners, and some design thinkers and writers!
The outcome, then, was not an evaluation of the work that is being undertaken by the presenters, but rather allowed for an understanding of the shift in the approach towards the profession.
The second edition - Landscape Architecture in South Asia - is poised to engage in similar conversations with practitioners and discussants from Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Much like the last time, the intent is to understand the trajectory of the profession in these countries, while undertaking conversations on challenges, opportunities, influences, pedagogy, and design philosophy!
With discussants from our participant countries, and India, the intent of these conversations is to find common ground, and expand the lens through which we look at landscape design - and create a regional platform for the same.