Communicating through the walls. Renewal of Poggioreale prison in Naples

Contemporary society has been changing from the industrialized society that was supported by modernism, to the information-oriented society. The ideal society of modernism aimed at a universal world that followed one sole world ideal and rule. Prisons were sites of punishment. The basic spirit was one of retribution. In these facilities the same pain was inflicted on the outlaws as they had inflicted on their victims. The world of today has experienced transition from a society of universal rules to a society of symbiosis that recognizes diverse cultures and diverse rules. Prison architecture should provide an appropriate environment to nurture the spirit of MUTUAL RESPECT for cultural differences and the worlds’ various diverse values, mutual recognition of individuality, and mutual acceptance along with COMPETITIVENESS and GROWING through responsabilities. This conditions cannot be provided without communication with outside world, which appears to be a solution not only for the abundancy and overcrowding of existant prisons, but also to the creation of the new type of institution - sustainable, self-productive re-educational complex.