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Urban Landscape Futures 2023

From Intermediates to Absolutes: Process-Remediation-Stabilization

  • Tags

    torrent waste scape, flyash, remediation, remediating landscapes, Public space, Urban Design, Landscape design, Gandhinagar, productive landscapes

Author: Aswin Joshy

The project focuses on remediating an industrial waste ground in Gandhinagar, heavily impacted by ash (containing arsenic, lead, etc) dumping from the Torrent Power Plant (a by-product of thermal power generation). A 12-meter-deep ash pond, situated 2km from the plant, remains unexplored mainly despite ongoing activities like grazing and other related activities in and around the site. The project unfolds in two phases to address this environmental challenge of industrial waste disposal.

The  Phase one involves creating intermediary structures between the plant and the ash pond. Existing pipelines will be extended to incorporate a system that segregates ash from the slurry before reaching the pond with underground filtration units with sedimentation tanks; each will collect and separate bottom ash for direct truck collection while purifying water through a centrifugal filtration system, channeling it to a new pond. This phase also includes enhancing the site’s street network for improved public experience.

The phase two focuses on remediating the ash pond by using 30% of the existing bottom ash mixed with soil to form island mounds. These islands will undergo phytoremediation, fostering plant growth and transforming the area into a productive landscape.
The core idea here is to create unobtrusive architectural solutions as intermediaries within the larger landscape, effectively managing industrial waste in alignment with the thermal power plant’s waste management.