RETHINKING THE PRISON
The US prison system has failed to see advancements throughout the past century and desperately requires Innovation. While a growing body of research begins to uncover the sociological and psychological impact of prisons, there has been little exploration of the physical apparatus in which inmates are housed.
499.SUMMIT is the outcome of a critical look into these static institutions, and reimagines the prison as an urban high-rise penitentiary in Journal Square, Jersey City. The massing consists of three arches - each accommodation a three-step circulation sequence, reflecting different phases of the facility: Incarceration (up), Transformation (over), and Integration (down). The arches begin isolated during the incarceration phase and merge together both physically and programmatically during the integration phase. As the inmates graduate through the facility, they are being exposed to an increasing degree of social interaction, to make the transition back into society as soft as possible. To catalyst this process, public program and residential housing are introduced in the integration phase downwards.
PennDesign Graduate Studio. Instructor Matthias Hollwich.
Completed in collaboration with Greg Knobloch.