Freedom Park in Bangalore

Pleasantly surprised to see a nice public project where they’ve taken a 150 year old prison in Bangalore and converted it into a park.

Aptly named Freedom Park, the city held an open competition inviting submissions for the conversion. The winning architect was given a generous budget to execute the transformation.

The architects have retained a sense of history and maintained the prison barracks in some areas so you understand the history of the place. Since a lot of freedom fighters were imprisoned here in colonial times, a contrast between the beautiful outdoor spaces and the cramped dark cells highlights the lack of freedom inmates undoubtedly felt.

The park features sharp, light and angular features of rock and landscaping, against the rounded, overbuilt and heavy colonial buildings. A modern exhibition space with dynamic walls that can be opened, is very stylishly connected with a beautiful angular sectioned foot bridge. Even pathways progressively taper off into nature in an angular design to symbolize the overbuilt and overly secure prison returning to nature and freedom.

Very inspiring overall, I hope to see other public projects of this caliber in Indian cities.