These trees got here as immigrants, made buddies with the locals and now are upstanding inhabitants of Coimbatore offering priceless service to the town and its individuals.
Architect, Jayashree Raman says trees supply a wealth of pure options to numerous design challenges. “They provide insights into structural strength, energy efficiency, and biomimicry, leading to more sustainable and aesthetically pleasing designs.”
For instance, Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava created areas that have been as enduring because the trees that had impressed his designs. Calatrava learnt from the knowledge of Nature and his design philosophy served human wants in addition to the setting’s.
But design is not only the enterprise of architects; it issues everybody, says Jayashree. “So why can’t we look at trees in our neighbourhood and see what lessons we can take away from them,” she asks throughout a tree stroll curated by her and fellow architects Sai Vivek, Udhaya Vauhini and Cibi Veeramani, in affiliation with The Indian Institute of architects, Coimbatore Centre. The stroll was half of an initiative referred to as The Design Mill.
“The Design Mill wants to create a community in Coimbatore that meets and has conversations about design in everyday life,” says Jayashree, who desires to study and doc Coimbatore’s trees.
For the stroll, the Design Mill staff chosen trees which have been half of the panorama for at the least 200 years, together with ones which have been round for hundreds of years.
Home and away
The endemic Pongai tree (Pongamia glabra) is a well-known fixture within the Tamil panorama, and finds point out within the historical Sangam literature. “Its leaves are often kept along with grains to repel insects, and oil from its seeds is used to light lamps,” says Jayashree. A hardy, erosion-preventing tree with a broad cover, Pongai is well-suited to arid, saline environments and is commonly discovered lining roads and villages
Like individuals from time immemorial, many of the trees have additionally travelled from faraway lands. The Gulmohar tree (Delonix regia), for example, was confined to Madagascar till the nineteenth Century. Now it’s a agency favorite with its flaming orange flowers. Madagascar could also be its start place, however the Tamils have embraced it as their very own and even given it an area title, Mayil Kondrai (peacock’s crown).
The Design Mill’s tree stroll in Coimbatore
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
The Cannon Ball tree (Couroupita guianensis) has additionally change into half of native lore. The tree, regionally referred to as Nagalingam, is sacred and represents Lord Shiva, although it got here to India from the tropical rainforests of Central America. Its massive, flamboyant flower, which grows instantly on the bark, has petals with a centre that resembles a lingam (a brief cylindrical pillar-like image of Shiva)
Another visitor that determined to remain on is the Brazilwood tree, (Guaiacum Officinale) also referred to as the Lignum Vitae or wooden of life because it was believed to remedy syphilis that ravaged Europe within the sixteenth Century. Incidentally the wooden of the tree is taken into account to be one of the densest on the earth and it sinks in water.
The Design Mill’s guide recommends
Trees of Delhi: A Field Guide by Pradip Krishen
Iconic Trees of India by S Natesh with illustrations by Sagar Bhowmic
Pillars of Life: Magnificent Trees of the Western Ghats by Divya Mudappa and TS Shankar Raman with Botanical illustrations by Nirupa Rao and sketches by Sartaj Ghuman
Next, we stroll straight into the heady perfume of the Plumeria or the Frangipani. The easy, elegant tree with its white, pink and yellow flowers can also be from Central America and has been round for a number of hundred years in India. Not too far is the Autograph tree (Clusia Rosea) and everybody rushes to scribble their initials on its waxy leaves.
The Badminton Ball tree (Parkia Biglandulosa) travelled right here within the sixteenth century from East Asia. “It is like a pollinator cafe,” says Jayashree as a result of it nourishes birds and bees in the course of the day and bats at evening.
We admire the romantically named raintree that has a fairly unromantic Tamil title. It is named Thungumoonji maram or the sleepy-faced tree as its leaves shut in on themselves when it rains and within the evenings.
Making connections
For all those that had forfeited the Sunday morning sleep in, it was a pair of hours effectively spent. What might be extra therapeutic than strolling beneath the shade of trees, standing beneath the fantastically wrought branches and staring on the fruits and flowers and respiration of their woody smells.
“I know that these kinds of public engagements definitely help in improving the general awareness of the bounty of Nature,” says tree walker Padmaja Sundar, who lately moved to Coimbatore from Chennai. She describes herself as a foot soldier of Nizhal, a Chennai-based NGO that’s concerned in city greening with trees which can be indigenous to the area. Padmaja is wanting ahead to involving herself in greening initiatives in Coimbatore.
The Design Mill’s tree stroll in Coimbatore
| Photo Credit:
Special Arrangement
The Design Mill has got down to do exactly this, says Jayashree.
“The idea is to collaborate with other studios, organisations and resource people. It is a great opportunity for us to meet and learn from experts from other disciplines and get inspired,” provides Udhaya.
As the group strikes from tree to tree, concepts circulation. Most of these current confess that the alternatives to fulfill individuals nose to nose, interact in conversations and study from one another are shrinking alarmingly. And the tree stroll is a technique of protecting human interactions alive and protecting in contact with the town areas.
Published – May 01, 2025 08:08 pm IST
