A juvenile center is a community, a shelter, a place that specializes into recovery, professional training and social reintegration of juveniles that have committed violations. Thus, the main users are children over 14 years old, sentenced to maximum 3 years. Therefore, this stage of the juveniles’ life is seen rather as a temporary one, working as a recovery mechanism, being a kind of “home away from home”.
Taking into consideration that a juvenile center is, in a sense, a program that borders and restricts freedom, the real challenge of the project was how to approach the boundaries. Starting from the idea that the wall separates, divides and houses, the interior disposal of spaces starts from it. The walls created are diving spaces, contain functions and give birth to various spaces, both indoor and out. From a flat element, the wall gains attachment, size and values. The wall gains a poetic-evocative value, marking a place and a time.
Whether is at the inside or out, the limit becomes wall, receives spaces and gains meaning. It is about having a diversity and richness of spaces with certain qualities, where these children can find their own place and corner, a space of “crime and punishment”, but capable to show the way to redemption and hope in a better life.