Bhubaneswar, Aug. 28: A group of architecture students from College of Engineering and Technology have turned a dumping yard into a beautiful public park using discarded tyres, scrapped plastic water bottles, broken toilet seats, bamboos, construction waste and thrown-away water pipes.
Fifteen students identified an unused patch of land adjacent to a government apartment near Fire Station Square and turned it into an innovative park where one can find a play area for children, an assembly point for the elderly, a hangout zone for youngsters, a sitting place for students and an open-air gymnasium. It took three months of rigorous work to convert the land into a park.
Om Ved Prakash, a member of the group, said they visited various events like Patha Utsav and other places only to interact with people to take their suggestions on what they needed in Bhubaneswar and most of them said they wanted green spaces, parks and recreational facilities.
"After the survey, we decided to develop the park, but we thought of not doing it in the traditional way," said Om.
Talking to The Telegraph, another member of the group Suman Routray said the main objective behind developing such a park was to create awareness among the people that discarded materials could be used innovatively to make a beautiful thing. "We did it for the people and now they can use it," Suman said.
A member of the group said that construction wastes had been used to build a unique acupressure pathway. The group claims that the pathway if one walks barefoot on the pathway, the person will get benefits of a unique therapy that stimulates pressure at specific points of the body.
Appreciating the innovation, medical practitioner Sobhan Rath such pathways are called reflexology footpath, which is designed to massage and stimulate acupressure points on the soles of the feet.
"Anyone can create it in an open space by putting soft and smooth rocks. These should be placed on pathways to stimulate neurological reflex zones on the foot. Walking barefoot or with socks on such pathways could help a person," said Rath.
The gymnasium in the park has been constructed using discarded water pipes. Scrapped plastic bottles have been used on the southern wall of the gym to let air flow into the exercise space.
"There are certain rules in architecture and science that we took into consideration while constructing the park. Materials used in this park were collected from various garbage sites, including the one that existed at the park. We used beer bottles to decorate a certain portion of the park," said a member of a group.
The sitting area of the park has been created using toilet seats as chairs with and a big truck tyre at the centre. "The most innovative part of the park is the sitting area that has been created using toilet seats. It is a great initiative by the students," said Vidwan Mishra, a resident of Baramunda.
