Kate Bormann (left) at Eknäs Juvenile Detention Facility in Stockholm, Sweden
Kate Bormann, 2018 Ursinus Bonner alumna, completed a masters project titled “Students: Sentenced: Architecture & Design for Imprisoned Rights” through Drexel University’s M.S. in Interior Architecture and Design program. Through the project, Bormann conducted a literature review, interviews, and participated in two site visits abroad. Her work culminated in the development of a model for reformative prison design.
In the introduction of her project presentation, Bormann writes how her Bonner service experiences led her to study prisons and design:
From 2014 to 2018, I volunteered twice a week at Montgomery County Correctional Facility to teach educational classes to incarcerated people. Every Tuesday and Thursday night, I entered the prison site with my teaching supplies to lead a class of ten to eighteen women in reading, writing, and math lessons. While there were many jarring and uncomfortable aspects to this experience, the part that impacted me the most was the conditions of the built environment.
Teaching in this space was one of the most challenging experiences of my life and it inspired my decision to go to graduate school for design.
I witnessed, first-hand, the undeniable power that the built environment has on peoples’ mental health and self-image, and it’s ability to promote certain cultures and mindsets.Upon entering the prison, I routinely cleared a series of automated metal detectors and sliding barred doors before being escorted down a series of corridors. The “classroom”, where I met the students, (see sketch on previous page) consisted of concrete block walls, moldy stains discoloring the ceiling and floor, and iron bars obstructing views outside. For the two hours that I conducted class, we were locked in this space together, being watched through a series of cameras installed overhead. I spent hundreds of hours trying to motivate and encourage these women but the conditions of this environment relentlessly contradicted my efforts.
As I began studying Interior Architecture and Design at Drexel University, this experience was always in the back of my mind. Throughout every design project, I considered the ways that the spatial composition would affect the feelings of the inhabitants, and how my designs could promote a specific social dynamic. For my final thesis project, it only felt right to return my focus to the carceral setting, where my design journey began, to confront our flawed incarceration system through my new, trained, architectural lens.
My challenging experience teaching at Montgomery County Correctional Facility inspired this design project, and continues to inform the way I think as a designer, creator, and problem-solver.
Below are few snapshots of Bormann’s final thesis book “perspectives.”
Check out Bormann’s architecture and design work on her website here.