Abstract
Architecture is an art form that, in addition to its aesthetic function, must also fulfil the practical one. Prisons are buildings that are closest in function to fortified (bastioned) architectural endeavours. For that reason, the functionality is overemphasised in relation to aesthetics. However, the prison is an architectural form which, in addition to aforementioned, has a role of communicating with the environment. From a communicative perspective, a semiotic approach to understanding prison architecture is important because it is a symbolic language. On one side, it symbolizes the power of the state, its strength and determination to protect its good (laws) – general prevention. On the other side, starting from the goals of punishment, re-education and re-socialization (special prevention), architectural solutions must be such that they do not marginalize, segregate and isolate, they must support integration. Thus, when analysed through the prism of Herbert Marshall McLuhan, prison can be understood as both a medium and a message. The medium is a certain architectural form and the message are the declarative goals of the purpose of serving a prison sentence (resocialization and re-education). In this paper, we try to “reconcile” the antagonisms that, by their etymology, are inherent in the form (object) and content (tasks) of the prison.
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