The project 499 Summit by Norwegian architect and product designer Andreas Tjeldflaat is a modern take on the U.S. Prison System. Over the past years, the design of penitentiary over the United States hasn't really change. Andreas' project 499 Summit reimagines the traditional penitentiary and creates something that would adapt in our modern environment.

The US prison system has failed to see advancements throughout the past century and desperately requires Innovation. While a growing body of research begins to uncover the sociological and psychological impact of prisons, there has been little exploration of the physical apparatus in which inmates are housed.
-Andreas Tjeldflaat

499.SUMMIT is the outcome of a critical look into these static institutions. It proposes a re-imagination of the prison as an urban high-rise penitentiary. The massing consists of three arches, which allows for a the overall circulation concept: Up, over, down. Each arch has three primary phases, Incarceration (up), Transformation (over), and Integration (down).
-Andreas Tjeldflaat

The arches begin isolated during the incarceration phase and merge together both physically and pro grammatically during the integration phase. As the inmates graduate through the facility, they are being exposed to an increasing degree of social interaction, to make the transition back into society as soft as possible. To catalyse this process, public program and residential housing are introduced in the integration phase downwards.
-Andreas Tjeldflaat

The harder you work, the luckier you get.
-Andreas Tjeldflaat

Credits: PennDesign Graduate Studio. Instructor Mattias Hollwich. Completed in collaboration with Greg Knobloch.

About Andreas Tjeldflaat

Andreas Tjeldflaat is a Norwegian architect and product designer based in New York City. His recent work includes projects with Toshiko Mori Architect, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, HWKN and Reiulf Ramstad Architects. Andreas has practiced professionally with design offices in New York City, Philadelphia, Taipei, Copenhagen and Oslo, and holds a lecturer position at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design. He has an engineering degree from the Technical University of Denmark and has studied at UPenn's School of Design and Wharton School of Business, earning a Masters degree in Architecture. Upon graduation he was awarded the Paul Philippe Cret Medal for consistent demonstration of design excellence. See more his work at Behance or his website.