Flipping the Prison: Projects

All text, work, and images by Group Project unless otherwise noted.

2017: New Visions for a New Campus

Our first design collaboration with GrowingChange included 3D scanning the entire site, producing a set of as-built plans, and creating new visualizations for future projects. These designs were guided by the GrowingChange Youth Leaders’ vision for the future of the site and also became marketing materials to support GrowingChange’s grand opening and capital fundraising campaign. The fundraising resulted in an ongoing relationship with Campbell’s Soup Foundation and the Kellogg Foundation. We also developed a full set of construction documents to transform the former exercise pavilion on site into The Hearth, an outdoor BBQ hut.

2018: Porch Swing

Our second visit to North Carolina included more than three times as many MIT students as the previous summer, for a total of 13. Even so, we decreased our scope to design smaller interventions around the site in order to realize projects that could be accomplished at costs lower than a full building renovation. An investigation into developing a bespoke porch swing that could be replicated around the campus took primary focus. During this process, we reached out to local fabricators to get input on the best way to go about designing the details. In addition, we produced a booklet detailing GrowingChange’s history, clinical model, and the first two years of projects completed through the collaboration.

2019: Building Signage

In our third year of collaborating, we were determined to see a project through to completion. After proposing a series of small interventions around the exterior of the site, GrowingChange concluded that signage was the highest priority and most feasible. These signs are intended to psychologically transform the site by renaming the prison buildings with the Youth Leaders’ visions for the future of each space. 

The Youth Leaders were involved in the signs’ fabrication, which made for a fun collaboration!

2020: Fully Remote Collaborations

In our fourth year, we have focused on using publication as a means to build relationships. Through completing this American Roundtable report we have deepened connections with our collaborators and reached out to new friends. In addition, we have also developed a new project called Postcard Penpals that will further establish communication with the GrowingChange Youth Leaders by allowing them to participate in the design of various spaces around the GrowingChange site. This project will be ongoing through the summer of 2021. 

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Current members of Group Project include: Morgan Augillard, Alex Bodkin, Jonathon Brearley, Isadora Dannin, Jola Idowu, Kailin Jones, Joey Swerdlin, and Emily Wissemann. 

Past members include: Charlotte D’Acierno, Hannah Diaz, John Fechtel, Ben Hoyle, Lucas Igarzabal, Melika Konjicanin, Thuy Le, Stephanie Lee, Milan Outlaw, and Emma Pfeiffer.

The views expressed here are those of the authors only and do not reflect the position of The Architectural League of New York.