At the Aspen Ideas Festival 2024, The Architecture of Incarceration invited audiences to confront how design and architecture has shaped the American prison system. The temporary exhibition assembled research, drawings, documentaries, and artworks from architects, artists, and reform advocates examining how architecture has reinforced systemic injury while offering new visions for repair. Work from Georgia Tech design studios led by Michael Murphy and our collaboration with California Governor Gavin Newsom's office for San Quentin Prison proposed alternatives to the architecture of punishment—wrestling with why spaces of confinement are the way they are, and asking what role design could play in their reconsideration.
Set within a semi-transparent A-frame pavilion scaled to the dimensions of two standard prison cells, the installation traced the evolution of incarceration in the United States—a system defined by extraordinary scale, racial disparity, and isolation. Anchoring the space are written letters from prison collected by Dr. Baz Dreisinger in her broader Writings on the Wall installation.
The installation served as a companion to a panel discussion called “Creativity in Confinement,” where Michael Murphy, Hank Willis Thomas, Claudia Peña, and Common, moderated by Debbie Millman, reflected on how proximity and storytelling can generate empathy and accountability—and how design can move us closer to a system that heals rather than harms.
Project Info
Year: 2024
Location: Aspen, Colorado
ClientAspen Ideas Festival 2024
CollaboratorsHank Willis Thomas, Dr. Baz Dreisinger, Claudia Pena, Openbox, Georgia Tech School of Architecture, CASA Vignale, Eric Angus, Will Reynolds
Image CreditsEric Angus, Aspen Institute