Mass incarceration is a major issue that disproportionately threatens black and brown communities. Recidivism, the rate at which people are rearrested after being released from prison, is extremely high. Studies show that in the US. 67.8% of formerly incarcerated people will be rearrested within 3 years of their release. In this studio, we will partner with The Ahimsa Collective (based in Oakland, CA) to develop a permanent tiny home community for formerly incarcerated individuals, providing these returning citizens with a long-term nurturing, safe and healing environment to help ease their transition back into society.
Designing for this clientele means that we have to examine the prison system, to further understand how to ethically design a reentry system for them. We will learn about the historical implications of the prison system through watching documentaries, reading articles and excerpts from books, as well as through first-hand interviews with our client, which we will apply to our design of a tiny home community. We will embark on this journey to be ethical architects understanding the architecture design process and the effects of design on health and well-being, while gaining technical knowledge, through learning drafting and rendering software such as Revit and Enscape.