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ON PRISON
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Robert Fico route to Moscow
The layering of functions is addressed by Michel Foucault in his discussion of the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans, designed by architect and urban planner Claude Nicolas Ledoux. The city’s design according to Foucault incorporates multiple emblematic strategies – the first being the intention to concentrate the city’s executive branches (administration, police, financial authority, and church) within a single structure. In this building, all power was consolidated–archival, preserving the city's history; judicial, administering punishment; and executive, issuing orders. The second strategy involved constructing the city in a circular layout (combined with rigorously composed geometry), which in the 18th century evoked the symbol of a political utopia. 3
The epicentre of power can also be traced through architecture in the course of history. The tallest buildings were always religious structures reflecting the dominant influence of faith within society (pyramids, ziggurats, pagodas, minarets, cathedrals). A significant turning point occurred in 1889 when the Eiffel Tower in Paris became the tallest structure (though not a residential building). This moment marked the culmination of the so-called second wave of the Industrial Revolution, which brought with it innovations in steel processing, assembly line production, improved machining tools, and more. Verticality ceased to serve religion and, via the Eiffel Tower and industrial revolution, became absorbed into the logic of capitalism, to which it continues to lend its symbolism today. Perhaps the most emblematic examples are skyscrapers – the first to surpass the Eiffel Tower in height was the Chrysler Building in 1930. The influence and appreciation of capital in favour of height can be observed, for example, in the rising price per square metre with increasing floor levels. 4
A completely new form of vertical power emerged when control from "above" was transferred into virtual space through the use of surveillance cameras. The constant monitoring of public space and interior environments represents the most effective form of contemporary panopticism. Within prisons, the implementation of camera systems began after 1960. A research group composed of MASS Design Group and the Vera Institute of Justice refers to this period as the second generation of prisons. Shortly after the installation and activation of surveillance systems, it became apparent that this non-contact form of oversight was ineffective – particularly in preventing violence (see more under CCTV). As with the guard tower, the monitoring officer remains in position, now enhanced by a live transmission of their immediate surroundings. 5
The most significant (and simultaneously most dangerous) object in this context is the drone, which connects military aerial units with visual surveillance equipment. 6 Positioned above built environments, the drone becomes the most powerful object in the vertical hierarchy, fulfilling a similar role to CCTV networks–providing state security forces with insight into bodies, buildings, and LANDSCAPES, and thereby reinforcing dominance over both human and non-human actors. Its small size and ability to move through space intensify the panoptic effect and give the subject being observed the impression that the drone is watching them specifically. However, the drone is not just a camera. Beyond its mapping function, it has, like the person in the guard tower, the capacity to kill. Regardless of whether this act is carried out, the mere potential for violence is essential for maintaining control and producing order. 7 One could say that the prison WATCHTOWER performs the same function as military drones over occupied territory – it monitors the movement of a given group of bodies and, if necessary, guarantees the execution of violence. Vertical power is thus largely defined by its control over the movement of those under observation.
This drone is subject to the authority of the state controlling the geographic area – that is, the airspace of a particular military. Its physical detachment from the ground (in terms of soil and human-scale environment) should not be mistakenly interpreted as apolitical – the airspace is geopolitically crucial. In addition to enabling the execution of military power, it also holds the potential to restrict all round world movement, returning us to a defining feature of vertical power. A recent example is France’s decision to permit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s aircraft to pass through its airspace, despite an active arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), of which France is a member. 8
Verticality operates through multiple mechanisms and aims to dominate everything below. An inspiring project that used height as a means of emancipation was the design of residential towers for Harlem from the year 1964 by June Jordan. By creating an “to design a three-dimensional, enviable, exemplary life situation” 9 for the people of Harlem, Jordan sought to draw attention to the escalating police violence and carceral strategies of urban planning of the 1960s. She collaborated on the project with the so-called world-renowned architect Richard Buckminster Fuller, whom Esquire magazine incorrectly (but deliberately) credited as the sole author. The project’s uniqueness lay in the construction of a massive number of housing units above the existing buildings.
Esquire 63, no. 4 (April 1965)
Only in this way could Harlem residents remain in their homes until the time of relocation— they were not forced to move to other districts, and the risk of gentrification was reduced to a minimum. Once the new towers were completed, the old (inadequate) buildings were to be demolished and replaced with green spaces. The oversized residential skyscrapers were meant to symbolise the scale of social investment required in the pursuit of equality – this is where the political appeal to verticality emerges. The height of the new Harlem housing (Harlem Skyrise) provocatively exceeded the needle-like towers of Manhattan, symbols of private luxury residences for the wealthiest. The vision was based on the premise that budget redistribution and defunding violent state apparatuses would not be fully effective until representatives of all marginalized communities gained access to decision-making and influential positions. Ensuring dignified housing, together with accessible education and healthcare, is the first and essential step toward creating more equal opportunities.
1 Karl Marx, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, available at: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/capital.htm#2, accessed on 25 Nov 2024.
2 Slavoj Žižek, The Sublime Object of Ideology, New York 1989, pp. 36–37.
3 Michel Foucalt, Dohlížet a trestat: kniha o zrodu vězení, Prague 2000, pp. 249.
4 Matt Yan, Manhattan Apartment Condo Co-op Prices, The New York Times, 2025. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/27/realestate/manhattan-apartment-condo-co-op-prices.html, accessed on 9 Apr 2025.
5 Mass Design Group, Vera Institute of Justice, Reimagining Prison, available at: https://vera-institute.files.svdcdn.com/production/downloads/mass-design-group-reimagining-prison-booklet.pdf, accessed on 25 Nov 2024.
6 Eyal Weizman, Archaeology, Architecture and the Politics of Verticality in: Ian Parker, For Palestine: Essays from the Tom Hurndall Memorial Lecture Group, Cambridge 2023, pp. 123-142.
7 Jordan Frazier, The Tower: Prison architecture and the verticality of carcerality (Master Thesis), Eastern Kentucky University, 2017.
8 Rayhan Uddin, France criticised for allowing Netanyahu's plane to use its airspace, Middle East Eye, 2025. Available at: https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/france-criticised-allowing-netanyahus-plane-use-its-airspace, accessed on 9 Apr 2025.
9 Nikil Saval – Sarah Whiting, A Rage in Harlem: June Jordan and Architecture, Cambridge 2023, p. 55.
ADÉLA VAVŘÍKOVÁ
THEORETICAL TEXT
The project’s political dimension contributes to the discourse on prison abolition, while also serving as a professional appeal to the architectural community: to learn to recognise spaces designed for oppression and violence, and to refuse further participation in their production. Instead, it calls for the use of imagination as a design tool, encouraging the creation of a society grounded in care and social equality.
At the top of the webpage, readers will find (1) a list of frequently asked questions related to prison abolition, (2) a glossary of terms, and (3) a manual explaining the structure of the online archive, including its categories, tags, and entries.