A Pattern Language

By Christopher Alexander

 Access to Water-
Water is always precious. Among the special natural places covered by sacred sites, we single out the
ocean beaches, lakes & river banks, because they are irreplaceable. Their maintenances & proper use
require a special pattern.

People have a fundamental yearning for great bodies of water. But the very movement of the people
toward the water can also destroy the water.
For most of the cases the water edges tend to become very dirty if care is not taken. Either it be roads,
freeways, or normal passing by stream, the water gets dirty until & unless it gets to any Govt. or Pvt.
hands. The fact that people need water is very vital & profound. This problem can be solved only if it is
understood that people will build places near to it which will be very natural or allow them to feel the
naturalness of it.
The width of the belt of land along the
water may vary with the type of water, density of
area development (say be a promenade or a
common parkland extending hundreds of yards
beyond a beach.

A similar example regarding

Access to water can be seen
around Seawoods Lake near
Palm-Beach road in Nerul.
There one can witness how the
CIDCO utilized the surrounding
around the lake into a regular
jogging track as well as a place
for usual chitchatting. In short
term they converted this into a
public gathering space where
various programs are also
sometimes organized. Also it provides a beautiful family time spending space for the people.
 Such steps regarding managing access to water can
really help maintain the naturality of the water in the
waterbody. Providing various human centric
innovative well-designed public space around such

waterbodies can utilize the fact of access

to water. This public space around the
Seawoods lake i.e. THE JEWEL OF NAVI
MUMBAI has utilized the fact of Access to
water by providing the required &
needed amenities i.e. the boating facility
& all other public interactive spaces which

beautifully curve out one of the examples of the day

to day experiences regarding the Pattern
Languages’ access to water.