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If architecture is the knowledge necessary to build places in which humans live, the jail – a place in which human beings are forced to live without being able to leave – is architecture at its purest definition. The fact that the biggest building built in Uruguay in 2017 was a jail, and that this jail’s neighbor was another ‘freer’ jail, are the starting points for a project that questions and reflects on the convoluted relationships between architecture and freedom.

Which montage between two images/elements

could be imagined that would result in something

different between and outside these two, which

would not represent a compromise but would

instead belong to a different order – roughly the

way someone might tenaciously pound two dull

stones together to create a spark in the dark?

Whether this spark, which one could also call the

spark of the political, can be created at all is a

question of this articulation (Steyerl, 2016).

‘Prison to Prison, an intimate story between two architectures’ was Uruguay’s official contribution to the 16th International Architecture Exhibition at the 2018 Venice Biennale. It is a project that explores the existence of an unprecedented ‘freespace’ in a place where it is least expected and and which is closely related to its larger opposite.

prison to prison

Uruguayan Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2018

sergio aLdama Federico coLom diego morera Jimena ríos mauricio Wood

Venecia, Italia

KeywordsFreedom

Building

Critique

Processes

Design

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Although it may seem hard to believe, the largest building erected in Uruguay in 2017 was a prison. In one of the most consolidated and renowned democracies in Latin America, such a symbolic fact – almost unnoticed – surprises, but also speaks aboutour collective fears and desires, as well as of thescope and limitations of our discipline.

The building discussed is the new detention facility called Unit Number 1 Prison in Punta de Rieles, with an area of 18 hectares, space for 1,960 inmates and a budget of nearly 100 million dollars. It became the second prison in the country in terms of capacity and, in addition, it constitutes the first Uruguayan public-private partnership financing experience regarding prisons.

However, not everything is bad news. Ironically, the new detention center has been built contiguous

1-2 Nuevo establecimiento de privación de libertad Unidad Número 1 Cárcel de Punta de Rieles junto a la Unidad Número 6 Cárcel de Punta Rieles o ‘cárcel pueblo’, Uruguay. / New detention facility Unit Number 1 Prison of Punta de Rieles, next to the Unit Number 6 Prison of Punta Rieles, or ‘cárcel pueblo’ [village-like prison], Uruguay.© Fabián Sarubbi

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(sharing a party wall!) to the existing Unit Number 6 Prison of Punta de Rieles, known as the ‘cárcel pueblo’ [village-like prison]. This, constitutes a unique experience for both our country and the continent, as the prison – with 600 inmates – is understood as a vivid, vibrant town that imitates urban logic, forming an unprecedented ‘freespace’ of collective negotiations and projects in a place where it is least expected: the Uruguayan prison system.

Since the inauguration of the new center in 2018, two jails – surprisingly designed during the same government period, but opposed in their views on punishment, seclusion, surveillance, technology, displacements, space and, above all, humanity – coexist in the same plot in the outskirts of Montevideo, in an almost schizoid way. The outcome: an actual over-30-hectares gigantic architectural oxymoron.

Even more fascinating when trying to understand the meaning of this oxymoron as architects is the fact that Uruguayan architects designed neither of these prisons. The new one echoes the formula of an abstract foreign model, implemented following the guidelines of the private company that built it, while the ‘cárcel pueblo’ has built itself based on both pre-existing constructions and other carried out by inmates themselves, regardless of any disciplinary or academic interest.

Faced with this irony and in the context of the 2018 Biennale edition, it is relevant to ask ourselves: is there a more architectural program than a prison? A place where sleeping, eating, walking, talking,

3 Proyecto dos cárceles en Punta de Rieles, Uruguay. / Two prisons project at Punta de Rieles, Uruguay.© Prison by Prison

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sharing, thinking and looking are actions defined by the architectural framework where they take place. Also, can we inquire about the architectural notion of ‘freespace’ in a site that may be its main opposite? The answer is ‘Prison to Prison.’

Then, like primitive men, forced to carefully analyze what surrounded them to decide cautiously how to act, as survival depended on that, we will be able to hold with strength these two large stones made of concrete and brick and pound them violently so as to – in that moment, by that forced collision of opposites –detonate, as in Hito Steyerl’s quote opening this thistext, the spark of the political.

Thus, ‘Prison to Prison, an intimate story between two architectures’ explores the juxtaposition of these two different realities to establish dialogues that exceed the object study. It is then an excuse to reconnect with architecture and its generous, necessary cultural dimension enabling unexpected empowerments. ARQ

Bibliografía / Bibliographystey eRl, Hito. «The Articulation of Protest». En: Beyond

Representation. Essays 1999-2009. Berlín: N.B.K ., 2016.

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prison to prison An intimAte story between two Architectures

Comisario / Commissioner: Alejandro Denes, Ministerio de Educación y Cultura, República Oriental del UruguayCuradores / Curators: Sergio Aldama, Federico Colom, Diego Morera, Jimena Ríos, Mauricio WoodColaboradores / Collaborators: Angélica Lazarimos Contribuciones / Contributors: Natalia Agati, Ethel Baraona, Ángel Borrego, Luis Camnitzer, Marcelo Danza, Olimpia Fiorentino, Andrés Jaque, Natalia Laino, Matices Culturales, Hélio Meneses, Serena Olcuire, Luis Parodi, Francesco Perrotta-Bosch, Juan Miguel Petit, Daniel Zubillaga Puchot, Rodrigo Rey, Angelina de los Santos, Martín Amande, Harun Farocki, Agustín Fernández, Regina José Galindo, Conor McGrady, Antoni Muntadas, Matías Nin, Berna Reale, Stanford Prison Experiment

Diseño de experiencia / Experience design: Head Brothers (Juan Pablo Colasso, Marco Colasso)Contenido de experiencia / Experience content: Matices Culturales, Fabián Sarubbi, Marco Colasso, Juan Pablo ColassoAsistencia de diseño / Design assistance: Bruno BaiettoDiseño editorial / Editorial design: Carolina Ocampo, Sofía GandugliaDiseño de póster / Poster design: Sebastián LambertTrabajo de campo / Fieldwork assistance: Cecilia Lombardo, Cecilia Alamón, Bernardo Martín, Natalia LainoPresupuesto / Budget: usD 20.000

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4-6 Pabellón de Uruguay, Muestra Internacional de Arquitectura Biennale di Venezia 2018 / Uruguayan Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition Biennale di Venezia 2018

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7-10 Pabellón de Uruguay, Muestra Internacional de Arquitectura Biennale di Venezia 2018 / Uruguayan Pavilion at the International Architecture Exhibition Biennale di Venezia 2018

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Studio professor at FaDu, uDelar. Coordinates and produces projects that work with architecture and domains that transcend it. Co-founder of cau studio, a platform that works with architecture, urban planning and collaborative projects.

Architect, FaDu, uDelar, 2017. Postgraduate studies in urban mobility, Escola da Cidade - Arquitetura e Urbanismo, São Paulo, Brazil. Works with the city, public space and the political.

Theater designer, Multidisciplinary School of Dramatic Art Margarita Xirgu, 2011. Museologist, Faculty of Humanities and Education Science, 2018. Professor at FaDu, uDelar. Works with performance, political art and feminism.

Architect, FaDu, uDelar, 2017. Urban planning professor at FaDu, uDelar. Member of maPa studio, works with videos, digital images and the city.

Architect, FaDu, uDelar, 2016. Studio professor at FaDu, uDelar. Co-founder of cau studio.

Sergio Aldama<saldama@fadu.edu.uy>

Federico Colom<federicocolom@gmail.com>

Diego Morera<diegomoreras@gmail.com>

Jimena Ríos<mariajimenarios@gmail.com>

Mauricio Wood<wood.mauricio@gmail.com>

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