Restorative Justice Architecture
Restorative Justice Architecture: Designing New Typologies for Social Change
With its capacity to transform the pain associated with violence in our communities Restorative Justice is a quiet revolution gaining ground both domestically and internationally. As of yet RJ practitioners are not frequently working with architects/designers to develop this new justice paradigm. One reason for this is a lack of knowledge and exposure to the profession and the inherent value it can bring to daily life.
As designers we know that by embedding the values of restorative justice into the furniture, spaces, buildings and gardens practitioners & participants use we will be able to create a new vision for social justice that supports the human interactions occurring within and around them. In addition we can bring our talent and imagination to social justice in a way that will help accelerate these practices into the mainstream.
“Like our time, contemporary court architecture is about effect, not substance; about reassurance, not inspiration; about how great we have been, not how great we might become. For our new direction-for architecture of leadership that will help us move toward what we need next we still have to wait.”
-Paul Spencer Byard
As Paul Spencer Byard calls out for an “architect of leadership” I feel confident that our time of waiting is over and the next steps are already being taken. However just to design a new kind of courthouse would not get us there. It is this re-envisioning of justice architecture that will help us to become great. My current work discusses early investigations into designing for restorative justice at a variety of scales and how architects can support Restorative Justice Practitioners. It is not enough to just focus on environmental sustainability we need to play a more active role in social sustainability that will ultimately lead towards greater stewardship of our environment. Working cross discipline with a holistic approach to social justice reform is just one of many places to start and all we really need is to have the courage to step out and play our part.
With its capacity to transform the pain associated with violence in our communities Restorative Justice is a quiet revolution gaining ground both domestically and internationally. As of yet RJ practitioners are not frequently working with architects/designers to develop this new justice paradigm. One reason for this is a lack of knowledge and exposure to the profession and the inherent value it can bring to daily life.
As designers we know that by embedding the values of restorative justice into the furniture, spaces, buildings and gardens practitioners & participants use we will be able to create a new vision for social justice that supports the human interactions occurring within and around them. In addition we can bring our talent and imagination to social justice in a way that will help accelerate these practices into the mainstream.
“Like our time, contemporary court architecture is about effect, not substance; about reassurance, not inspiration; about how great we have been, not how great we might become. For our new direction-for architecture of leadership that will help us move toward what we need next we still have to wait.”
-Paul Spencer Byard
As Paul Spencer Byard calls out for an “architect of leadership” I feel confident that our time of waiting is over and the next steps are already being taken. However just to design a new kind of courthouse would not get us there. It is this re-envisioning of justice architecture that will help us to become great. My current work discusses early investigations into designing for restorative justice at a variety of scales and how architects can support Restorative Justice Practitioners. It is not enough to just focus on environmental sustainability we need to play a more active role in social sustainability that will ultimately lead towards greater stewardship of our environment. Working cross discipline with a holistic approach to social justice reform is just one of many places to start and all we really need is to have the courage to step out and play our part.
