Fairy Tale Tower -2015

This conceptual project explores the idea exile as punishment over traditional models of incarceration. The work pulls from the literature structure present in many of Grimms's Fairy Tales (1812). The stories typically operate with a 'hero' undergoing a 'transformation' via entering into a 'forest'. The meaning is to remove the individual from a certain context to allow personal growth before returning. To do this I removed all overtly visible traces of a traditional prison from the city landscape and utilized the original footprint as a park. The prison system is then sequestered below the new park. Sensory depravation chambers and VR headsets replace prison cells and allow inmates to undergo specific behavioral programs to prepare them for reentry to society. Inmates are now introduced to rehabilitation through isolation and free of the influence of other inmates. The goals shift to reducing sentencing through the completion of "quests" designed to teach acceptable behavior.