Milan Design Week: Dropcity challenges detention space design with 'Prison Times'

Dropcity's inaugural exhibition, 'Prison Times – Spatial Dynamics of Penal Environments', offers an unprecedented take on interiors; the show zooms in on detention environments through the lens of design and architecture. The exhibit, on display in the architecture centre's dramatic space within the tunnels behind Milan Central Station, promises to prompt discussions around space and the penal system, offering glimpses of objects and spaces associated with it.

In the following week, a public programme of talks, including global and local architects and designers, radio transmissions, as well as a collaboration with Central St Martins students in Dropcity’s Material Library, aims to enrich the exhibition's offering and food for thought. We caught up with Dropcity founder, and architect Andrea Caputo, to find out more.

Explore Dropcity's 'Prison Times': we interviewed founder Andrea Caputo

Wallpaper*: Why did you focus on prison architecture and interiors?

Andrea Caputo: The project stems from the need to investigate the spaces, methods, and conditions of the contemporary prison environment. This is done through an introspection of the time associated with prison routines, that is, the moments that mark fragments of predetermined life. It is not an initiative aimed at the aesthetics of detention facilities. The design of prison elements, from sanitaryware to any piece of furniture, is subject to strict safety requirements. In no case is the approach to design influenced by aesthetic factors, but rather by reflections that lead to the evolution of the typological language towards objects that are less and less confined to the prison imagination and progressively more related to a domestic, everyday life context.

W*: What surprised you during your research?

AC: The research has yielded an extraordinary collective outcome: from the United States to China, passing through European countries, a common thread of anonymous designers establishes strict, non-negotiable rules of action. This set of constraints gives rise to a morphology of subtle yet surprising solutions to address even the smallest issue: the need to prevent impulses or the creation of potential blunt objects. In parallel – though not emphasised in our initiative – it was striking to observe the persistent need among incarcerated individuals to modify these objects in response to other necessities, sometimes driven by self-defence and survival needs.

W*: How did you go about choosing what goes in the show?

AC: The exhibition is a typological catalogue structured around a typical day in the life of incarcerated individuals. Each space is clearly defined and recognisable in relation to its specific moment in time. It was therefore almost natural and instinctive to organise the various families of components accordingly. In each installation, we aimed to avoid tiresome reenactments of prison environments or imitations of harsh daily life. The simplicity of the installation is meant to neutralise any media manipulation or ambiguous interpretation.

W*: What is a highlight of the displays for you?

AC: We have consistently sought not to highlight or favour any particular interpretation or element over others. The exhibition and the book are, rather, significant curatorial efforts to abstract the dozens of products and typological families. There are undoubtedly striking objects – the latest research in colour has led to remarkable surprises in terms of choices – but the only prevailing hierarchy in the exhibition lies in the duality between the furniture families and the units hosting the works of the various artists selected for the show.

W*: What do you hope visitors might take away from the exhibition?

AC: We hope that the exhibition and the accompanying publication will serve as tools for reflection on one of the most crucial and critical issues of our time. The conditions of prison environments are a global concern today. In a phase of deep uncertainty regarding the most effective approaches, we believe it is essential to foster debate and to highlight – also through thematic lenses such as design – the configuration of a daily reality that is difficult to imagine from within our society.

'Prison Times – Spatial Dynamics of Penal Environments' runs 3 April - 31 May at Dropcity, via Giovanni Battista Sammartini, 60, 20125 Milan, Italy