Career in Landscape Design?

By Savitha Hira

Well-known landscape designerAniket Bhagwat shares some invaluable nuggets of wisdom that can help onechoose Landscape Design as a vocation. 

Qualifiedfrom and practicing successfully in his homeland, India, Aniket Bhagwat is morea landscape designer than a building architect. His firm is considered asamongst the top 50 landscape design firms in the world and is one amongst theten founding members of ISOLA (Indian Society of Landscape Architecture). He hasto his credit the prestigious IFLA (International Federation of LandscapeArchitecture) Awards, which he won for the first 2 consecutive years since theirinception in India, after which he quit participating in them.

Aniket Bhagwat is also the co-founderof FUTURE Institute, Delhi, engaged in urban research and action; and of LEAFthat conducts research in landscape design. Besides, he is also the co-founderof Spade, a biannual magazine on design and has taught at CEPT, Ahmedabadfor over 2 decades. He has been published extensively in national andinternational magazines and books.

Ar. Aniket Bhagwat

Ar. Aniket Bhagwat gets candid with IAnDabout the enthralling nature of this ‘Mother of all Arts’ and some of her lesser-knownattributes…

What prompted you to pursue a career inlandscape design?

As a child, I spent every summer vacationin Pune. A distinct memory that I have is of sometimes accompanying mygrandfather Bhalchandra Bhagwat to the Saakal newspaper office, wherehe would conduct a sort of citizens’ forum called “bhaaji palaa saakal samiti”; here, he would answer questions about growingvegetables or flowers. I must have been 10 or 12 years old.

I knew that my grandfather was somehowinvolved with gardens; it was much later that I learnt that he was theSuperintendent of the Empress Botanical Gardens in Pune. My father was India’sfirst qualified landscape architect. There are memories of visitingsites with him. 

The Harivallbhdas gardens, for a housethat Ar. Charles Correa had built in Ahmedabad remain imprinted in my mind tilldate. They were perfect, immaculate gardens; beautifully laid out andmaintained.  I must have been 13 or 14 years old; and even todayremember thinking that the house was lucky to have a garden like that.

Often, I would accompany my father when he hadto plant a garden. This was pure theatre and I marvel at it till date. At dawn,he would reach the site, where a team of labourers andsupervisors would be waiting for him. Then he would pace up and down the gardenwith a stick, taking large and rapid strides, tapping the ground where hewanted a certain pod to be planted. He used no drawings. Just a mental map hehad created. And these would be large gardens.

I would often wonder how these gardenswould ever turn out right- but years later when I saw them they were always adelight. Gentle, sensitive, and comprising of a careful selection of manyplants.

So in some sense, I grew up with theseimages in my head - landscape design was a logical part of me.

Joining architecture seemed en routeto qualify as a landscape architect. Aftercompleting architecture at CEPT Ahmedabad, I joined SPA Delhi, for a postgraduation, to qualify as a landscape architect. Though, I must confess most ofthe learning happened on site, and in the office; very little in the college.

After26 years in the field, what is that one thing you wish you could havelearnt as a student, which should have been part of your syllabus?

It’s not so much what I would have likedto learn as much as it’s what kind of teachers I would have felt blessed withwhile learning. The problem with design is that it can only be transmitted,never taught. For this, you need passionate teachers who have a large view ofthe world, the profession, a great sense of humour anda fantastic work ethic. I am afraid, that this is one commodity that was inshort supply then, and almost extinct today. So while I had my father, or theoffice environment and the love for books to make up what was not being talkedabout in the class room, I am afraid that the way landscape was taught then,and in most places even today, does not excite the senses, does not paint thewondrous world that this profession explores.

So in retrospect, I would say that it wouldbe wonderful if students got to learn in the classrooms, the many ways oflooking and understanding our world, along with the fullest exploration of whatthis profession can comprise of and how much it can bring value to the idea oflife. The other, and this because I taught the subject for 15 odd years, is toteach the history and theory of the profession in a manner in which theinterconnectedness of life and the relevance of the way things  thathappened, have in shaping us today was taught  in a vivid manner.

Twodon’ts that you could share with a student aspiring to pursue landscape design?

• Do not believe that landscape design is only about making gardens. Instead, try and fathom that it’s about making a world- and influencing it since all space outside the built is the theatre of the landscape architect. It includes the streets, the play grounds, the gardens and also the country side, the forest and the hills.
• Do not believe that landscape design is not intellectually challenging. In fact, the best works are those that are philosophical, delve in the abstract, border on the realm of the arts, and are lucid and structured so that people can occupy them and use them. In many parts of the world in history, it’s good to remember that landscape architecture was considered the mother of all arts- above architecture and the other arts.

Twodo’s that you could share with a student aspiring to pursue landscape design?

• Before joining the landscape programme, work for at least one year with a good landscape office; and I stress that it should be one that has the idea of academics embedded in its practice and also does a varied portfolio of work. There are very few offices in the country that do this, so choose carefully and wisely.
• Read a lot about the profession; read books - on landscape history, Indian landscapes, plant material; see the works of some landscape architects you like and try and make a picture in your mind about the profession-  a picture that excites you; one that you like. This will help you to calibrate your thoughts while learning the profession in college.