Almeida Park at Bandra (West), Mumbai, India

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Plot Area: 1.60 Acre
Location: Bandra (West), Mumbai
Year: September 2021 onward
Scope of Work: Comprehensive Architectural and Landscape Design (work with BMC)

Almeida park is one of the most commonly used parks in Bandra west as it is located right in the heart of the most sought after locale. The park covers an area of around 1.6 Acres of land with a mix of indigenous trees along with special botanical ones like, Gulmohar, Banyan, Chiku, Mango, Apta, Supari Tree, Jambool, Chafa, Jackfruit tree, Kailas Patti, Nilgiri and many more. No wonder the park is named after renowned botanist Prof. Raphael Almeida who was also an ex-Mayor, Municipal Councilor, Senator and dedicated his live for making Bandra green and better for the future generations.

Following his legacy and the charm of this green haven in Bandra, we as local residents are getting an fresh nurturing look an feel to the place after 65 or so years. The place has remained the same over the years without much design upgradation and intervention.

So, now with a hope to live in a better green open space (in post pandemic era), the park includes:

A very welcoming entrance space designed with a inspiration from Shells, so the idea is of shell structure along with guard room / locker room.
The park has ample space for Senior citizen to come and sit under partially covered Trellis spaces along the beautiful fragrance of Madhumalti plant (a creeper famous in Maharashtra).
The overall park gets one unified walking / jogging pathway without much disturbances. Also, it creates a interesting walkway for anyone to enjoy as there is an element of surprise which has been added with a curvilinear pathway.
The park is divided into one third as dedicated to new and upgraded children’s play area and two thirds of it will belong to the park with pathways, open green spaces and other amenities.
Most notably the park is about to witness a tree hugging walk so as to give one an elevated perspective of the park and not a limited vision of this grand Urban green space that we are blessed with.
The park also needs to be better facilities for Physically challenged, so the same has been taken under consideration as well at most locations so at to welcome more and all kinds of people.
The park also will have proper arrangements for public toilet which can be used by men and women. Also it will be separate than the one which is meant for Mali and the Guards.
The park is quite large and the current quantum of water is not sufficient for its upkeep so the same has also been taken under consideration.
Lastly, the external grill compound wall of the park was not there in the initial days, as mentioned by Dr. Mariam Dossal who lives close to the park for past 65 years. So we have developed an interesting approach towards creating a kind of seating + a gated grill on compound wall so the visibility of the park from outside to inside is not hindered and same from inside to outside. Visibility is one our prime focus as we would like to have more and more no of people who should feel the interest to explore this newly furbished park and enjoy the space along with there friends and family.