HARRISON MADDOX 2019-20 YEAR 2

The Institution for Gun Violence Extrication and Education

An educational opportunity centre for Chicago, providing overnight accommodation, therapy and learning facilities, and employment junction for those seeking escape from gun violence prevalent in South and West Chicago.

The Institution will become part of the newly elected Mayor Lightfoot’s outreach scheme in which $250 million has been promised for programmes dedicated to reducing gun violence. The building has a domestic agenda: seeking to provide a welcoming safe space and offer a sense of security and comfort. The architecture makes reference to traditional methods of fortification, as well as psycho-spatial defences like the ‘blanket fort’ – the epitome of childhood security. Crafted in concrete, steam-bent ply shells encase latex reservoirs to offer a casting formwork typologically sited between the fortress and the blanket.

Tutors: Greg Storrar, Farlie Reynolds