The 499.summit concept is the work of design duo Greg Knobloch and Andreas Tjeldflaat. Made up of three intersecting towers, this conceptual proposal for a New Jersey prison is reminiscent of something seen in a science fiction film. 499.SUMMIT carefully challenges all preconceived notions of the word “prison”, and proposes simple yet powerful ideas that re-imagine the high-rise as an urban penitentiary. The massing consists of three towers in the shape of an arch. The inherent linear and formal qualities of the ‘arch’ allowed us to establish our key circulatory concept: UP, OVER, DOWN. Each arch has three primary phases, Incarceration (up), Transformation (over), and Integration (down). The arches begin isolated during the incarceration phase and merge together both physically and programmatically during the integration phase. As the inmates graduate through the facility, they are being exposed to an increasing degree of social interaction, in order to make the transition back into society as soft as possible. To catalyst this process, public program and residential housing units are introduced in the integration phase downwards. With an aim to challenge the way correctional facilities are designed, this space is meant to leave a positive impression on the inmates entering the prison system. Meeting the prison’s many functions, this surreal space is made up of three levels, the highest designated for first incarcerations, the second for transformation and the lowest for inmates set for re-intergration into society. Believing that spatial design affects human behavior architectural students Tjeldflaat and Knobloch hope their 499.summit concept will change the way correctional facilities are run.
