Framing Injustice
ACSA Steel Competition | Studio 5A
Partner: Victor Sanchez
Woodbury University | Instructor: Gerard Smulevich
While I observed Grand Park and contemplated the concept of Democracy, I found myself irresistibly drawn to the nearby surroundings that symbolize the three branches of government: The Criminal Justice Building, City Hall, and The Los Angeles Police Department Headquarters. Considering the civil rights, social justice, and ideological debates of 2020 and 2021, this project responds to and becomes part of a society looking back at itself and learning to live with the simultaneity of different voices and points of view in a perfected democratic society.
How can we call ourselves a Democracy in a park whose slogan is “the park for everyone” if the system is not set up to help people equally?
The United States holds approximately (20%) of the world's incarcerated population, and 70% of these individuals are re-arrested within three years.
An overwhelming majority of them are black because of this country's background of systemic racism. In this country, black people are profiled, targeted, and killed at much higher rates than other races.
The project aims to use infrastructure to allow people to FRAME the criminal justice system in the US by providing a LIFTED platform to exercise their right to protest for a better future safely. An enclosed portion lifted from the platform acts as an area for private congregations, which users can use to meet, plan, or even educate. Finally, a series of exterior floors FLOAT to look onto the Criminal courts building and City Hall as a check and balance.
Above the leading platform is a denser structure hung from the tower trusses, which have been systematically shaped based on viewpoints that act as references to educate the public. The main intention of these spaces is to provide a space that inhibits rehabilitation rather than incarceration. The glass boxes offer a series of enclosed glass boxes protected by the vast roof frame. These areas are the backdrop to the main demonstration stage and floating floors.
JUSTICE AGAINST SYSTEMIC RACISM
AFTERMATH OF UNRESOLVED INJUSTICED OF DEMOCRACY
The floating floors are suspended in the air by a forest of cables. The suspended floors, held aloft by a web of cables, serve as platforms for various forms of systemic injustice, including recidivism.. These suspended floors are only accessible at certain moments using a floating ramp to emphasize the importance of each platform. Where the cables touch the leading platform, parts of the floor are liberated in a circular fashion revealing glimpses of the frame.
COMPETETION BOARDS
