EXIT through the Prison November 2011
The subject of this thesis is the controversial case of a prison facility; a space with a very unique nature as it aims to enclosure and detention. In architecture, we usually talk about how to comfort people in a space and make their lives easier, but in the case of prison typology the only forethought that went into designing until recently was a primitive/punitive idea that prisoners are animals to be caged. From the other hand, even contemporary alternative -on paper- proposals do not really answer to burning questions like :
“What is the role of the architect?”, “Is there an ethical component in Architecture? or
"Does design matter?", "Can architecture be a helping tool in the rehabilitation of prisoners?". This project is tackling these issues.
Architecture gives both a conceptual and material structure to societal institutions. Its products, the buildings, are the tools to strengthen or challenge traditions, affirm existent cultural values or create new ones. In the case of a prison building, architecture expresses the legal and the political principle of punishment for a crime and also it depicts the prevalent attitude towards the marginal groups of delinquents. Aim of this project is to bring architecture in confrontation with questions of human existence in space and time in order to to intercede with the society and fix the problematic relationship between the user's of the prison, the supporting staff and the world outside. A different physical layout of prison facilities was the desired product of this project which would enable a new symbiotic relationship between the prisoners and the world and affect the traditional skepticism towards delinquents.
Prison architecture has been changing throughout time as a function of the dominant correctional theories. The inverse is suggested in this project. Feeling that the objectives of current correctional theories are reprehensible and in order to achieve a different organization of the penal system, a new function of the prison was researched. The second aim of this project was the formation of a pilot program, a new approach concerning the services a prison should offer to both “users” and society. The physical layout of the prison would stem from this functional program.
“What is the role of the architect?”, “Is there an ethical component in Architecture? or
"Does design matter?", "Can architecture be a helping tool in the rehabilitation of prisoners?". This project is tackling these issues.
Architecture gives both a conceptual and material structure to societal institutions. Its products, the buildings, are the tools to strengthen or challenge traditions, affirm existent cultural values or create new ones. In the case of a prison building, architecture expresses the legal and the political principle of punishment for a crime and also it depicts the prevalent attitude towards the marginal groups of delinquents. Aim of this project is to bring architecture in confrontation with questions of human existence in space and time in order to to intercede with the society and fix the problematic relationship between the user's of the prison, the supporting staff and the world outside. A different physical layout of prison facilities was the desired product of this project which would enable a new symbiotic relationship between the prisoners and the world and affect the traditional skepticism towards delinquents.
Prison architecture has been changing throughout time as a function of the dominant correctional theories. The inverse is suggested in this project. Feeling that the objectives of current correctional theories are reprehensible and in order to achieve a different organization of the penal system, a new function of the prison was researched. The second aim of this project was the formation of a pilot program, a new approach concerning the services a prison should offer to both “users” and society. The physical layout of the prison would stem from this functional program.
PHASE 1
PHASE 2
PHASE 3
Graduation Project, Msc Architectural Engineering, TU Delft * individual project