This was the topic of a presentation at the 2012 AAJ Conference that I gave with co-presenters Jill Taylor and Jeremy Warson. At the presentation I asked the question that goes to the heart of this issue. What do our old underutilized correctional facilities say about us and can we do better? I think we can do better. We can apply adaptive reuse techniques to take these buildings and give them a new life. One approach is to repurpose buildings and this was explored at the conference by Jill Taylor and Jeremy Warson. Another approach questions the logic of building new capacity replacement buildings when older facilities can be re-planned and redesigned. This was the topic of my presentation. For many years it has been assumed that Courthouse Architects are also engaged in historic preservation but this assumption is not applied to the Architects of correctional facilities. Demographics, environmental concerns and costs are shifting the logic in favour an approach that allows existing structures to keep up with changes in society and attitudes about incarceration. In an environment where the prison population is shrinking and budgets are following the same direction we need to come up with solutions that do not start with the wrecking ball.
http://network.aia.org/AIA/AcademyofArchitectureforJustice/Resources/ViewDocument?DocumentKey=0fa1bf0d-2903-474d-b88b-874631cd4f86 http://network.aia.org/AIA/AcademyofArchitectureforJustice/Resources/ViewDocument?DocumentKey=b990bacd-4214-4f03-b98b-eecb90b1fdca -------------------------------------------
Frederick Basch AIA
Gruzen Samton IBI Group
New York NY
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Original Message:
Sent: 12-06-2012 15:20
From: Kathleen Simpson
Subject: Adaptive Reuse of Prisons
America Is Finally Closing Prisons. Now What Do We Do With Them?
http://www.theatlanticcities.com/design/2012/12/america-finally-closing-prisons-now-what-do-them/4083/
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Kathleen Simpson
Director, Knowledge Communities
The American Institute of Architects
Washington DC
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