LA
Freedom Park
The Irene School of Garden Design students showed some of their best work this year at the annual Plantland garden
expo in Pretoria. An underlying theme of upcycling was carried through all the gardens and student were given a basket
of materials and plants to work with. Virre magazine shows some of the best ideas that our readers can take home
Freedom Park is an extraordinary, mystical and liberating place on the Salvokop in Pretoria. Juxtaposed next
to the very impressive UNISA building as one enters Pretoria from the R21, Freedom Park is a memorial to
the South African wars, and clearly the best place to view the entire city. Freedom Park was chosen to form
part of this Landscape Architecture curator series as I believe it is truly a design marvel that deserves the
attention of the public. The park is a perfect example of Landscape Architecture that comfortably sit in the
landscape and does not compete for visual attention, and the planting design scheme enhances the
endemic ecology of the area. Freedom Park is open to the public, and creates the kind of awareness of the
direction and capabilities of Landscape Architecture today.
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