LANDSCAPE

ARCHITECTUR
E
AMITA SINHA
LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT

KRISHNA BHARATHI C
I-SEM, M.ARCH (GENERAL)
MEASI ACADEMY OF ARCHITECTURE

AMITA SINHA is professor in the department of landscape architecture at

the university of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, USA.

PERSONAL HISTORY AND EDUCATION

BACKGROUND

Educational background
B.Arch., (Five year professional degree program), Indian Institute of
Technology, Kharagpur, India, 1981.
M.Arch, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University, Blacksburg, VA,
1983.
Ph.D. in Architecture, University of California at Berkeley, 1989.
List of Academic Positions since Final Degree
Visiting Assistant Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture,
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 1989-1990.

Assistant Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of

Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 1990-1996.

Affiliate Associate Professor, Program in South Asian and Middle-Eastern

Associate Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of

Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 1996-2008.

Professor, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign, Illinois, 2008-present.
Other Professional Employment
Assistant Architect in Stein, Doshi and Bhalla, Architects and Engineers,
New Delhi, India, 1981-1983.
Honors, Recognitions and Outstanding Achievements
Beckman Research Award Recipient, 1992.

National Merit Award, American Society of Landscape Architects for

Cultural Heritage Project on Taj Mahal, India, 2001.

Outstanding and Inspiring Leadership Award, Indian Consulate, Chicago,

2003.

Research and Cultural Awareness Award, Eco-Development Foundation,

New Delhi, India, 2007.

Senior Fulbright Research Scholar in New Delhi, India, Spring 2009.

Society for American City and Regional Planning History (SACRPH)'s prize
for the best article "Jamshedpur: Planning an Ideal Steel City in India"
published in 2011-2013 in the Journal of Planning History, USA.
Invited Lectures and Invited Conference Presentations
Taj Mahal Cultural Heritage District: A Study in Open Space Types. Public
Lecture in Government College of Art and Architecture, Lucknow, India,
2000.

Champaner Pavagadh Arcaheological Park. Public Lecture in

Department of Architecture, Institute of Integral Technology, Lucknow,
India, 2001.

Indian Architectural History: A Post-Colonial Perspective. Public Lecture

in School of Planning and Architecture, New Delhi, India, 2002.

Champaner Pavagadh Cultural Sanctuary. Public Lectures at

Department of Architecture, Institute of Integral Technology and
Department of Architecture, Babu Banarasi Das National Institute of
Technology, Lucknow, India, 2004.

The Yamuna Riverfront: A Comparative Study of Islamic and Hindu

Traditions in Cultural Landscapes. Public Lecture in the Department of
Architecture, Babu Banarasi Das National Institute of Technology,
Lucknow, India, 2005.

Visual Representations of the Taj and Landscape Design, Invited

Lecture, Linking Latitudes Conference organized by the Australian
Federation of Teachers in Agra, India, 2007.

Women and Memorial Parks in Lucknow, India, Invited Lecture,

Symposium on The Patronage and Production of Art by Women in Modern
South Asia organized Shangri-La, Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art,
Honolulu, Hawai, May 2008.

Memorial Parks in Lucknow, India, Public Lectures in Government

College of Art and Architecture, Lucknow, India, and School of Planning
and Architecture, New Delhi, India, 2009.

Gomti Riverfront: Revitalization of a Cultural Heritage Landscape, Public

Lectures in Babu Banarasi Das National Institute of Technology, Lucknow,
India, 2009.

Natural Heritage and Cultural Landscapes, Invited presentation at The

International Festival of Sacred Arts, Delhi, 2009.

Claude Martin and the Gomti Riverfront in Lucknow. Public Lecture in

the Department of Architecture, Babu Banarasi Das National Institute of
Technology, Lucknow, India, 2011.
Cultural Landscapes of Orchha, India: Reclaiming a Lost Heritage,
invited Lecture in the Departments of Landscape Architecture and
Geography at Kansas State University, Manhattan, 2012, Government
College of Architecture, Lucknow and Jamia Millia Islamia University,
Delhi, India, 2013. Amity School of Architecture and Planning, Noida,
India, 2015.

Gaze and the Picturesque Landscape of Amber, India, Indian National

Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage, New Delhi, August 2013 and Jamia
Millia Islamia University, Delhi, L.S.Raheja School of Architecture, January
2014.

Cultural Landscapes and Heritage Conservation: Design Studies in

India, State University of New York at Old Westbury, and Graduate
School of Design, Harvard University, October 2014.

Ghats on the Ganga in Varanasi, India: Reclaiming the Cultural

Landscape, Department of Architecture, Integral University, Lucknow,
India and Architects Association, Varanasi, India, January 2015.

PUBLICATIONS AND CREATIVE WORKS

Doctoral Thesis Title

Environmental and Social Change in Home and Neighborhood in Northern
India, Dissertation submitted towards partial fulfillment for Doctor of
Philosophy in Architecture, University of California, Berkeley, 1989.
Books Authored or Co-Authored
Sinha, Amita. Landscapes in India: Forms and Meanings. Boulder, CO:
University Press of Colorado, 2006 (reprinted by Asian Educational
Services, 2011).
Books Edited or Co-Edited
Sinha, Amita (ed). Landscape Perception Readings in Environmental
Psychology, London: Academic Press, 1995.
Chapters in Books
Womens Local SpaceHome and Neighborhood, Sally Sutherland (ed).
Bridging WorldsStudies on Women in South Asia. Center for South Asia
Studies, Occasional Papers, No. 17, University of California, Berkeley,
1991.

Participant Observation: A Study of State-aided Self-help Housing in

Lucknow, India, in Graham Tipple & Kenneth Willis (eds.) Housing the
Poor in the Developing WorldMethods of Analysis, Case Studies, and
Policy. New York: Routledge, 1991.
Introduction: Varieties of Nature Viewing, in Sinha (ed.) Landscape
Perception: Readings in Environmental Psychology. London: Academic
Press, 1995.

Cultural Heritage Planning of Sacred SitesA Case Study of Rockfort

Temple at Tiruchirapalli, Tamil Nadu in Nalini Rao (ed.) SangamaA
Confluence of Art and Culture During the Vijayanagar Period. Delhi:
Original, 2006.
Complex Landscapes and the Ramayana Legend, J.McKim Malville and
Baidyanath Saraswati (eds.) Pilgrimage: Complexity and Cosmos. Delhi:
D.K. Printworld, 2009.
Fairchild Ruggles and Amita Sinha, Preserving the Cultural Landscape
Heritage of Champaner-Pavagadh, Gujarat, India, D. Fairchild Ruggles
and Helaine Silverman (eds.) Intangible Heritage Embodied. Springer,
2009 .
Conserving Delhis Landscape Heritage Amita Sinha (ed.) Delhis

Cultural Landscape of the Mother Goddess at Pavagadh, Rana P.B.

Singh (ed.) Sacred Geography of Goddesses in South Asia: Essays in
Memory of David Kinsley. Planet Earth & Cultural Understanding Series,
Pub. 5. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010.
Sacred Landscapes of Govardhan in Braj, India: Imagined, Enacted, and
Reclaimed, Singh, Rana P.B. (ed.) Holy Places and Pilgrimages: Essays
on India. Planet Earth & Cultural Understanding Series, Pub. 8. New
Delhi: Shubhi Publications, 2011.
Architectural History in IndiaA Post Colonial Perspective, Ian Mabbett
(ed.) Pracyaprajnapradipa, Professor Dr Samaresh Bandyopadhyay
Felicitation Volume on Early Indian History and Culture, North American
Institute for Oriental and Classical Studies, Tennessee, USA. Kolkata:
Arunima Printing Works, 2012.
Cultural heritage and Sacred Landscapes of South Asia: Reclamation of
Govardhan in Braj, India, Kapila D. Silva and Neel Kamal Chapagain
(eds.) Asian Heritage Management: Contexts, Concerns, and Prospects.
New York: Routledge, 2013.
Memorial Parks to Begum Hazrat Mahal and Mayawati in Lucknow,
India, D. Fairchild Ruggles (ed.) Womans Eye, Womans Hand: Making
Art and Architecture in Modern India. New Delhi: Zubaan Books, 2014.

Creative Works (Exhibitions, Commissions, Competitions,

Performances, Art or Architecture Executed)
Sarnath: Design Guidelines and Case Studies for Tourism Development.
Design proposals and report submitted to Varanasi Development Authority,
India, 1990.
Site Planning for Cultural Heritage District, Lucknow, India. Design
proposals and report submitted to Lucknow Town Planning Authority, India,
1995.
Dilkusha Gardens--Heritage Park. Design proposals and report submitted
to Lucknow Cantonment Board, India, 1997.
Bellafiore, Vincent, Amita Sinha, Terence Harkness, Kenneth McCown, and
Brian Orland. Taj Mahal Cultural Heritage District, Design proposals and
report submitted to Uttar Pradesh Tourism, India, 2000.
Amita Sinha and Vincent Bellafiore, Taj Mahal Cultural Heritage District:
Development Plan II, Design proposals and report submitted to Uttar
Pradesh Tourism, India, 2001.
Sinha, Amita and Gary Kesler. Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park,
Gujarat, India. Design proposals and report submitted to Heritage Trust,

Sinha, Amita, Gary Kesler, D. Fairchild Ruggles, and James Wescoat, Jr.
Champaner-Pavagadh Cultural Sanctuary, Gujarat, India. Design
proposals and report submitted to Heritage Trust, Baroda, India, 2003.
Sinha, Amita, D. Fairchild Ruggles and James Wescoat, Jr. Panch Yatras in
the Cultural Heritage Landscape of Champaner-Pavagadh, Gujarat, India.
Design proposals and report submitted to Heritage Trust, Baroda, India,
2005.
Sinha, Amita. Conservation of Gomti Riverfront - Case Studies of La
Martiniere and Residency, Lucknow, India. Design proposals and report
submitted to La Martiniere School and Lucknow Development Board,
2006.
Sinha, Amita. Vilayaiti Bagh, Lucknow, India. Design proposals and
report submitted to Archaeological Survey of India, 2008.
Sinha, Amita. The Hindu Temple in East Central Illinois. Design
Proposals submitted to the Hindu Temple Society, Champaign, Illinois,
2008.
Sinha, Amita, Govardhan Hill in Braj, India: Imagined, Enacted and
Reclaimed, Exhibition and Catalogue submitted to Braj Foundation,
India, 2010.

Sinha, Amita, D. Fairchild Ruggles with Neha Rajora, Cultural

Landscapes of Orchha, India: Reclaiming a Lost Heritage, Design
proposals and report submitted to Department of Urban Development,
Madhya Pradesh, India, 2012.
Rajora, Amita and Amita Sinha, Cultural Landscapes of Amber,
Rajasthan, Exhibition and Catalogue submitted to Amber Development
Authority, Jaipur, India, 2013.
Sinha, Amita with Heena Gajjar, Ghats of Varanasi in India: The Cultural
Landscape Reclaimed, Design proposals submitted to the Government
of India, 2014.

HISTORIC TRENDS OF SPACE PLANNING AND

THEIR INFLUENCE ON LANDSCAPE DESIGN
LANDSCAPES IN THE HINDU ERA
In Hindu mythology the human form is believed to represent the cosmos
with its plant, animal and human life. The built settlements in turn are
composed of house, temple and city thus duplicating this cosmic form
and are based on square mandalas symbolic of the purusha

The urban culture of ancient India incorporated features of the natural

landscape in royal gardens and urban public parks (Sinha 2001, 13).
The holy Hindu treatise, the Ramayana, depicts a design ideology based
on a naturalistic landscape, picturesque, dotted with temples. The use of
water in canals and tanks as against ornamental fountains, planting of
tree groves as compared to parterres or topiary suggest an attempt to
imitate nature and not dominate or improve upon it as is seen in later
influences.

A typical garden then would be a combination of spreading trees, lotus

ponds, stepped bathing tanks, pavilions, floral displays, fruits and
flowering trees and swings along with jasmine and fragrant creepers
forming arbours inviting the royal family to retire in orchards and parks on
the city outskirts, or spend time in hunting preserves. There is also
evidence of sacred groves in forests in close vicinity of human settlements
(Sinha 1998, 30).

Floral display

Spreading trees

Lotus ponds

Stepped bathing
tanks

pavilions

MUGHAL GARDENS

The tradition of riverfront gardens introduced by the first Mughal

emperor Babur (1483-1530) in the form of the Ram bagh, on the banks
of the Yamuna in Agra, continued for another century and culminated in
the tomb garden of the Taj Mahal (in the reign of Shah Jahan, 15931666).

BRITISH PERIOD
The desire to create an English garden in India is the central theme of
the gardening activities of British in India. the creation of an English
Garden was also important for the psychological and physical survival of
those living a temporary existence in an alien country and in a hostile
climate (Roberts 1998,115).
During the colonial era as the British population increased, urban areas
became dotted with public parks, pleasure grounds, polo grounds, and
ceremonial spaces, as well as scientific sites such as zoological and
botanic gardens and cemeteries along with private gardens in cities,
cantonment, civil lines and at hill stations. (Roberts 1998, 116)

Public parks
Polo
grounds

Pleasure grounds

POST INDEPENDENCE ERA

Landscape design in post independence India expressed a clear leaning
towards English gardens. As a result, public spaces were designed with
lawn, flower beds, benches and a lake if one could possibly be created in
the garden. Stretches of Lal Bagh, with the topiary garden, pseudoJapanese garden, location of food stalls in the foreground of the Glass
House are an obvious attempt to amuse the public that comes here
looking for a popular means of recreation.
Flower beds,
benches

lawn

TWENTY FIRST CENTURY

In urban development, many a rural landscapes and traditional building
techniques are being lost to this quest for modernisation.
According to Hough (1990, 94), malls are representative of contemporary
values making consumption a leisure time activity and creating a world
where buying, living and entertainment have become indistinguishable.
The Pinjore gardens in existence since 1669 now find themselves in
competition with an amusement park that has been designed within
walking distance from them.
This, like the advent of malls is another syndrome that is becoming very
popular amongst the Indian public.
Sims park at Coonoor has already given in to boating activities.
The pressure is on at Lal Bagh to introduce a food court, childrens play
space etc.
Though these may be considered as another layer to the cultural
landscape, commend the fact that the historic spaces are allowed to

GHATS OF VARANASI ON THE GANGA IN

INDIA
The Cultural Landscape Reclaimed
Abstract :
Intangible and tangible cultural heritage
encompassed
by the cultural landscape of the ghats is
interpreted in its
mythic, enacted, and historic dimensions.
The
land-water interface has been culturally
significant for over two millennia. The
landscape is a symbol of the primeval being
purusha and the great gods of Hinduism-Shiva and Vishnu. The icons and deities in
the many temples and shrines on the ghats
attest to their living presence on earth. The
landscape is always in flux, its temporality a
function of the Gangas seasonal flow and
calendar of rituals and festivals determined
by planetary motion. The ghats on the west

HISTORIC LANDSCAPE
The historic character of the ghats is
most evident in
riverside palaces and temples built in
the last three
hundred years.
Royalty and nobility from different parts
of Indian subcontinent built palaces for
extended stay by elderly family
members who wished to spend their last
days in the holy city of Varanasi.
The Hindu temples commemorate acts
Often associated with a holy water body or local divinities, they
of cosmogony, sacrifices, and austerities
celebrate the numinous power of the site.
of gods and goddesses.
Monumental temples were in existence before the arrival of Islam in
India in eleventh century their repeated destruction resulted in the
oldest surviving Hindu temples on the ghats to date only from the
eighteenth century

IMAGEABLE, LEGIBLE AND PERFORMATIVE

LANDSCAPE
Figure 3.1 - Panorama: Sarveshwara ghat - Tripura Bhairavi ghat (2005-2013)
Source: Michael Aschauer

Figure 3.2 - Panorama: Lalita ghat - Ganesha ghat (2005-2013)

Source: Michael Aschauer

section

section

Figure 3.7/A - Chet Singh Palace, 1837

Artist - unknown
Courtesy - British Library

Figure 3.7/B - Chet Singh Palace, 2014

Figure 3.9/A - Dasashwamed Ghat, 1883

Photographer - Prasad Babu Jageswar
Courtesy - British Library

Figure 3.9/B - Dasashwamed Ghat, 2014

Figure 3.8/A - Raja ghat, 2000

Photogapher - Stanislaw Klimek
Source: Gutschow, 2006

Figure 3.10/A - Kedar ghat, 2000

Photogapher - Stanislaw Klimek
Source: Gutschow, 2006

Figure 3.8/B - Raja ghat, 2014

Figure 3.10/B - Kedar ghat, 2014

Figure 3.11 - Visual quality of the ghats

Figure 3.12/A - Manikarnika
Ghat, 1869
Photographer - unknown
Source http://www.oldindianphotos.i
n

Figure 3.12/B - Manikarnika Ghat,

2014

Reading from the River:

Defining an Architectural Vocabulary for the Ghats of Varanasi

igure 3.14 - Architecture vocabulary of ghats

Movement is studied at three levels: from urban transportation hubs to the

ghats, from adjoining
neighborhoods to the ghats, and between the ghats themselves.
Streets follow topographythose perpendicular to the riverbank connect
parallel streets
to the ghats and drain stormwater into the Ganga.
The street network shows a dendritic pattern with the major thoroughfares
broad and straight, while the pedestrian lanes of the old city are narrow
and winding.

Figure 3.16 - Maps and

apps for heritage trails

THANK YOU