Architecture of Confinement, from the Hospice to the Era of Mass Incarceration (EM or HA)

Subject associations
ART 329 / ARC 318 / HIS 330
Term
Fall 2025
Instructors
Basile C. Baudez
Registrar description

This course examines the architectural history and ethics of confinement spaces - mental asylums and prisons - which share common features and goals: security, isolation, and behavioral reformation through architectural control. Engaging with justice-impacted individuals, the course applies ethical discussions to real-world case studies, prompting critical reflection on the moral implications of designing spaces explicitly meant to restrict human freedom and agency. Through community dialogue, students confront the responsibility architects bear in institutional power dynamics.