Scandinavian giants C. F. Møller Architects won a competition to design a new Danish state prison -- though from the sound of things, they might as well be building a Club Med. Consider thisproject description, from partner Mads Mandrup:
In the centre are an administration building, an occupation building and a cultural centre with library, religious worship room, sports facilities and a shop.
Also:
Each individual building in the total complex has its own identity. ...Variation is provided by, amongst other things, the occupation building, which is crystal-shaped and faced with perforated metal plates in green shades, and the cultural centre, which is round, covered with glass and ringed by green slats.
And:
With its corners and variations, the six-metre tall, star-shaped perimeter wall creates a dynamic sequence which gives a less restrictive appearance by providing a sense of dialogue with the outside world.
“Identity”? “Variation”? A “sense of dialogue with the outside world”? Gawd, we wish the architects who’d built our elementary school had been this thoughtful. The prison even has a sweeping outdoor area for inmates to tend livestock.
But it’s hardly a rarity in Scandinavia. Back in March, we told you about a luxurious new prison in Norway, complete with private bathrooms and flat-screen TVs. And in Denmark, prisons are designed to feel like home (albeit a home with cameras everywhere). The New Statesman reported on one facility in Funen, a Danish island, in which inmates share small living units, grocery shop, and cook for themselves in communal kitchens; if they're married, they can shack up with their wives and young children in a designated wing. It's not as preposterous as it sounds: studies show that the more you replicate life outside prison, the lower your recidivism rates.
It’ll take a long time (and many liberal presidents) before the United States starts treating prisoners like the Danes do: as a social, not an individual, problem. Until then, wouldn’t it make sense for the U.S. -- the incarceration capital of the world -- to import some of their design ideas? OK, maybe not flatscreens in every room, but natural light and lots of outdoor space? Those aren’t luxuries; they’re just humane.
COMMENTARY: I thought the whole idea of prisons was to take away many of your rights and privileges of civilian life, keep you in a crowded cell, treat you like criminals so that you learn your lesson and, hopefully will not return to prison, from a repeat offense.
Those Danes really know how to treat their prisoners. These are not correctional facilities, but more like resort facilities. If I went to prison, I'm heading off to Denmark. I love animals, i can handle sheet and goats. That might be fun feeding them and working on my blog.
I wasn't sure if I should tag this under luxury resorts or crime.
Courtesy of an article dated December 29, 2010 appearing in Fast Company Design
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