The prison is an uncomfortable institution and its architecture is often subjugated to technocratic criteria. this servility forces the prison out of the sociocultural realm where it belongs, thus erasing it from public discourse. the invisibility of the penitentiary as an institution demonstrates an unresolved contradiction underlying contemporary society. a jail must respond to the demand for discipline (confinement) and liberty (reinsertion) at the same time. within this complex framework, architecture can make use of its ability to synthetically articulate problems that seem contradictory to become an active agent in resolving the paradox of the contemporary penitentiary.
Given very strict programmatic requirements, catalan AiB estudi d'arquitectes, have made a series of decisions that forge a link between the utilitarian and the conceptual: the construction of an appropriated, non-oppressive environment; the introduction of a maximum number of vectors of exteriority; and the generation of open space that is central both formally and conceptually. three keys aspects permeate the entire design process and serve as the conceptual horizons that articulate the project: totality, vibration and openness. both typological and topological design strategies are central to the mas d’enric penitentiary project.