Garden of the Unexpected

On September 17th, at the occasion of the pre-full moon, the Matrimandir executives organised a ‘confluence’ in the Peace Area of the Matrimandir Gardens, inviting Aurovilians, Newcomers and friends to a Coming Together in a consecrated atmosphere in silence, sound contemplation, walking, observing, listening, with simple offerings of flowers and candles under the Banyan Tree.

Induja, a young Auroville architect, talks about how she came to Auroville, the work which inspires her and her hopes for the future.

Situated at the periphery of the Matrimandir gardens is the site of the Garden of the Unexpected, a garden for children for when their parents are visiting the Inner Chamber, or for those days when the Inner Chamber is open only to children from all the schools in Auroville and the surrounding bio-region.

Recently, the process of finalizing the designs of the next four Matrimandir gardens to be constructed – Light, Life, Power and Wealth – was completed and work on Life and Power, the two smaller gardens, will begin in a month.

Work on the Garden of the Unexpected, on the western edge of the Matrimandir gardens oval, has picked up speed again with a tree platform having been built.

Work at the Matrimandir is focused on three projects: the continuing development of the Garden of the Unexpected; the building of the foundation for a group of large quartz crystals in the Garden of Existence; and the construction of a new section of the cobblestone road encircling the Matrimandir gardens.

The Matrimandir executives are starting a new international open design call for the next four gardens around the Matrimandir, namely Light, Life, Power and Wealth.

In early January, the team supervising the process announced that a final design had been decided upon for the Garden of the Unexpected at Matrimandir (see AVToday November, 2018).

An innovative process to design a new garden close to the Matrimandir is underway. What is it trying to achieve? What does it involve?