- Title
- Investigating the use of Biophilic Principles in Rehabilitative Environments: The Design of a New Correctional Facility for Nelson Mandela Bay
- Creator
- De villiers, Jaun
- Subject
- Correctional institution -- Nelson Mandela Bay
- Subject
- Rehabilitation technology
- Date Issued
- 2020-09
- Date
- 2020-09
- Type
- Master's theses
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10948/59005
- Identifier
- vital:60255
- Description
- South African correctional facilities are riddled with issues such as overcrowding and high recidivism rates. Recidivism refers to the tendency of a convicted criminal to re-offend once released. This is mainly due to the lack of rehabilitative programmes and infrastructure to aid in rehabilitating a convict to not reoffend and to earn an honest living. With unemployment being a significant factor in South Africa, society intentionally makes it more difficult to find employment if one has a criminal record. We should consider the fact that today’s prisoners are tomorrow’s neighbours. Therefore rehabilitation in correctional facilities should be the most important part of the incarceration programme (Cox, 2013). Many South African prisoners experience conditions such as being locked up for 23 hours a day in a cell crammed with two to three times more the number of inmates the facility is capacitated for with little to no access to the natural environment. Thomas Ouard, architect and PhD at the Nantes School of Architecture in France, indicated that there is a direct relationship between a prisoner’s psychological health and the surroundings perceived by the prisoner on a daily basis and that the opportunity to experience landscapes and vegetation, even though large windows, can significantly aid the mental health of inmates (Ouard, 2015). Additionally, Dr Söderlund, the current chairperson of Biophilic Cities Australia, proved through her research that physiological evidence indicates that biophilic principles applied in prisons, through patterns of vegetative areas and organic architectural patterns, can greatly aid in rehabilitating prisoners and can contribute to relaxation, stress relief, and feelings of refuge and peace (Söderlund & Newman, 2017). There are four levels of security in South African prisons: supermaximum, maximum, medium, and minimum-security. Generally, medium- and minimum-security prisons attempt to explore rehabilitative programmes the most. South African prison facilities are often located on the outskirts of a town, which causes difficulties for family and friends to visit inmates. The facilities also struggle with expenses regarding access to essential services, lack of operational medical staff, costly transfers of prisoners, and procurement of supplies and food stock (United Nations Office for Project Services [UNOPS], 2016). However, 21st-century prisons contain modern technologies and advanced security systems that allow modern correctional facilities to be incorporated into an urban environment (Ricci, 2006). This treatise therefore aimed to establish a 21st-century mediumsecurity prison in an urban environment that incorporates principles of biophilia as constituent to rehabilitation. The facility will be focused on rehabilitation in order to reduce recidivism, and, ultimately, in the long run, will lead to a facility that is populated within its capacity. To meet the aim of this study, the following objectives were set: to establish a set of architectural principles and theories that will act as design drivers focused on the rehabilitation of incarcerated individuals, and to reduce the operational costs of the design of a new correctional facility. This can be achieved by amending the facility with an urban agricultural component through biophilic principles to explore horticultural therapeutic activities that will aid in rehabilitating convicts and aid as an additional food supply, which can also be a form of income for the facility. The project includes sustainable and regenerative approaches that respond to the environment and provide additional infrastructure to the facility in terms of water, gas, and electricity. It is important to note that it will be nearly impossible for one new correctional facility to address all the difficulties that South African facilities face. However, the facility intends to act as a new paradigm of knowledge that can be applied to future facilities in South Africa.
- Description
- Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment, and Technology, 2020
- Format
- computer
- Format
- online resource
- Format
- application/pdf
- Format
- 1 online resource (vii, 166 pages)
- Format
- Publisher
- Nelson Mandela University
- Publisher
- Faculty of Engineering, the Built Environment, and Technology
- Language
- English
- Rights
- Nelson Mandela University
- Rights
- All Rights Reserved
- Rights
- Open Access
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | de Villiers, Juan - 215052412 Treatise Document.pdf | 68 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |