Sinfree Gonese Lexicon Abstract Control Winston Churchill addressed the English Architectural Association in 1924 and said, “There is no doubt whatever about the influence of architecture and structure upon human character and action. We make our buildings and afterwards they make us. They regulate the course of our lives.” Architecture and design created precisely for controlling and moderating populations is something that has been happening for a while now. Architects and urban planners have recognised the natural capability of design to impact mood, character, and the physical and social properties of people. A prison is a design in which one can observe the dialogue between space and social control. The production of new technologies had disowned the biases of individuals, forming, which is later be realized by Gilles Deleuze who says that a control society is a social custom where disciplinary confinements are substituted by modulation, or supple and mobile controls. The movement from discipline to control signifies a change. Architectures of control are landscapes, structures or approaches to specific operation of design which is brought into physical products, software, buildings or city layouts which are planned to enforce, reinforce, or restrict certain approaches of user’s behaviour. In designing and building locations where people live and work, architects and planners are essentially involved in manipulating how the human behaves. The architect who is still
Architecture in the 1950s was representative of the conformity caused by the Cold War. McCarthyism and the Red Scare were some of the major sources of this conformity. McCarthyism was the persecution of innocent people assumed to be communist and the forced conformity that the practice aroused in American public life. As the government grew more and more concerned with the development of communism in the United States, the country became extremely against communism and with the help of John McCarthy, the government set out on a mission to find all the communists hiding in the depths of America; many people were questioned and hundreds were either killed or exiled, even those that were wrongly convicted. With the threat of being removed from
There are three models of prisons that have been prominent in American since the early 1940’s: custodial, rehabilitative, and reintegration. Each model is designed differently based on its overriding goal, and this affects the physical design, policies, and programs that are implemented within each of the models.
However, the reality is that prisons are no longer designed as correctional facilities, but instead, obedience schools. Not only do prisons affect those incarcerated, they force society’s members into predefined roles (Anonymous, 2012). This is caused because prisons are designed
Question 1. Choose an architect or practice whose work is covered by or relevant to this course and discuss critically one or more of their design projects or drawings or urban proposals as precedent case-studies. Selectively situate this work in relation to their body of work, and against the practices and concerns of the period. Focus on the architectural qualities of a specific key aspect of the design of the projects. Selectively consider how they might relate to the historical situation, cultural values, theoretical concerns and design practices of the time. This may involve a selective analysis of compositional design practices, material fabrication production and the experiential reception of built outcomes of the projects.
James Gilligan relays an enlightening message in his article, Beyond the Prison Paradigm: From Provoking Violence to Preventing It by Creating “Anti-Prisons”, about the history and sole purpose of jails. Gilligan dates his research about jails all the way back from the first civilization known to man, Sumerian, to the jails we see and know so well today. At the beginning of time jails literally meant “house of darkness” which when compared to any of today’s jails is very similar to our maximum security facilities with solitary confinement. Jails were first used as a place to house those citizens, who chose not follow the social norms of society, and used a very
The year was 1943 and London was in the midst of realizing the extension of the damage caused after the Blitz, where German bombs were aimed at the Commons Chamber. Now, the Commons, alongside with Winston Churchill, had to rebuild the Chambers. That was when Churchill decided to maintain the old rectangular pattern of the room claiming that it was the cause for the English democracy system to be divided by two parties, saying the famous phrase: “We shape our buildings and afterwards our buildings shape us” (Churchill, 1943). He was no expert in architecture or design, but he was wise enough to realize the importance of it in the interactions between humans and the environment. People’s lives occur around the buildings they build; it is only
Since the 1980s, the United States prison population has quadrupled to 2.4 million inmates; with nearly half of the inmates in federal prison serving time for drug offenses. The majority of America’s general population has been hoodwinked into believing that the prison system helps prevent crime, but the side effects of mass incarceration is like spilling gasoline on a burning car. The side effects of fabricating additional prison complexes for the sole purpose of preventing crime will continue to deem societies ignorance towards our broken prison system. The United States’ prison system is a warehousing institution that is vastly expensive to society and degrading to humanity; oppressive that neither rehabilitates nor protects our society. With the collaborative focus the general population, policy makers and design & construction teams set on making a change, the design and construction field can help heal those affected by the broken prison system.
Have you ever wonder why prisons are made? It is known that prisons are built to isolate and punish everyone that committed crime in their lives, whether it is in the past or present. However, lately there have been some arguments on whether everybody that committed crime should be put in jail or they should be allowed to stay outside of the prison, but with very strict supervisions. Nowadays, there have been some cases in which criminals are given the freedom to stay in their usual surroundings. The reason is people agree that criminals may have done something bad, but not all of them should be put in jail. There are other ways to punish those who did wrong aside from putting them in quarantine.
As you take a closer look to those pre-existing prisons in cities such as Auburn and Huntsville, they are described to have a “congregate design” and seem to be a “factory like” setting. These prisons
Overcrowding prisons are an issue that has been influencing the United States prison population for decades, however what is the true significance of overcrowding. As indicated by Jeff Bleich (1989) “the term overcrowding is repetitive, since crowding already refers to a higher level of social density than is desired”. An overcrowded prison is a shocking condition that causes outrage and dissatisfaction among detainees (Haney, 2014). This condition is so undesirable that one can consider it as unconstitutional. An overcrowded prison is commonly recognized as being the fundamental explanation behind appalling misconduct and the expansion of recidivism. According to Wagner and Sakala (2014), United States prison system “hold more than 2.4
This paper will discuss prison overcrowding and what type of numbers have come about over the years when it comes to inmates being imprisoned. It will discuss the cost of a prisoner annually as well as the decision to add verses build when it comes to new facilities. The overcrowding in one particular prison will be touched on as well as whose responsibility it is for upkeep. It will discuss how funding plays a role in overcrowding as well as the “three strikes” rule in California and how big of an impact it has made on the prison system. Lastly, society’s choice to vote will be touched on as how large of a determining factor it is in overcrowding prisons.
Leon Krier was criticised for publishing a costly monograph on Albert Speer’s architecture (1985)in which, while acknowledging the crimes of the Nazis and the man, Krier nonetheless claimed the book’s only subject and sole justification was “Classical architecture and the passion of building” (cited by Jaskot, ‘Architecture of Oppression’, 2000). Discuss this claim, the controversy and the issues (historical, philosophical and ethical and possibly others) they raise. Can architecture, Classical, Modern or otherwise, be autonomous from politics and valued independently of the circumstances of politics and history that adhere to it?
The human body is the ultimate tool for discovering the environment. Human anatomy is considered to be nature’s peak of perfection and certain features serve as inspiration for many architects. To study the relationship between the human body and architecture, one must not be limited to human body parts resemblance to architectural works but to a larger extent consider human emotions, sensory nerves, the mind and general human psychology. In essence everything that makes us human. In its simplest definition Architecture can be described as an art or practice of designing buildings. It is practiced in a way that accomplishes both practical and communicative or expressive requirements. To relate it to human body then Architecture can widely define the place, the site, the energy, the systems, the building, the flora and fauna. These components that bring aesthetic property to humanity apart from the utilitarian purpose it serves. The perfect balance of a normal human body and the proportions are incorporated into architecture from a point of view of imitation, idealized allusion and the actual human use. Evidence of such human incorporation into architecture is seen from the Ancient Greek Architectures where it was common for tower columns to take shape of a human being like in the colossus of the Ancient
Everyday we live and move through spaces without realizing the influence they can have on our daily lives. Built environments are designed to directly affect behaviour and attitudes in a specific and intended way; this can be referred to as architectural determinism (Marmot 2002). Almost all architectural patterns use the physical arrangement of elements, and materials to influence behavior. This can range from placing design elements in specific places to encourage or discourage people’s interaction with them, placing them to prevent access to a specific area, or placing them to direct or
“ Architecture organizes and structures space for us, and its interiors and the objects enclosing and inhabiting its rooms can facilitate or inhibit our activities by the way they use this language”(Lawson pg.6).