Carceral Geography

This research-led design studio sought to explore new methodologies, typologies and approaches for better understanding architecture’s role in the lived experiences of trauma and the challenges of re-entry from incarceration (prison), back into the community. This studio explored concepts including human geography, safety, control, independence and care. The objective of this studio was to challenge our existing architectural processes and current modes of reference. This studio drew heavily from external disciplines including psychology, philosophy and sociology, testing new methods of architectural verbal / visual communication and language. This studio researched carceral space (historical and contemporary), and the impacts on those who inhabit them. This studio focussed on the design of a ‘transition facility’, a mediator between experiences of confinement, control and power, and the subsequent challenges of re-joining a free society. This studio saw students develop a brief for the design of an ‘in-between’, a bridge that looked to assist in reducing the vast disparities between these two states of habitation. Ethnographers and Forensic Clinical Psychologists offered the students guidance on their design work throughout the semester, offering real world experiences and highlighting the important role architecture, and architects play within the realm of complex mental health.

Studio Leader: Anthony Clarke