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Argument › No. 18/2026

Thinking About Time and Rethinking Prison Architecture. From Punitive Repetition to Social Transformation

https://doi.org/10.54508/Argument.18.08

  • / University of Sousse, Tunisia

Abstract

Thinking about prison architecture today requires moving beyond a strictly spatial approach to examine the temporal dimension that structures the experience of incarceration. Long conceived according to a logic of fixity, control, and surveillance, prisons inherited from modern disciplinary models struggle to respond to contemporary social, institutional, and human transformations. Yet, prison time is neither reduced to the length of the sentence nor to a simple succession of counted days: it constitutes a lived experience, marked by waiting, constraint, but also by possibilities for individual and collective transformation. This article offers a critical reflection on the links between temporality and prison architecture, exploring the contributions of flexible, modular, and temporary design as levers for rehabilitation and social innovation. Based on a comparative analysis of the Norwegian and American prison models, the study highlights the contrasting effects of spatial rigidity and architectural adaptability on the well-being of inmates, institutional management, and reintegration processes. By employing a forward-looking approach, this article argues that prison can be reimagined as an evolving space-time, capable of supporting individual trajectories rather than freezing them. This reflection opens up perspectives applicable to other institutional spaces, highlighting the central role of time as an agent of architectural and social transformation.

Keywords

Prison Architecture, Time, Temporary Design, Flexibility, Rehabilitation, Social Innovation

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