The Big House...

Ross Macintosh

hopefully this is as close as i'll get to it.

The project isn't built yet but we are taking reservations!

The interior is a separate model. Both were very responsive provided shadows are turned off. Lots of FormFonts content in the exterior model.

Regards, Ross

Gaieus

@ross macintosh said:

The project isn't built yet but we are taking reservations!

Can you put me up in a nice, sunny room? I am thinking of sharing it with Mike or Pete...

Ross Macintosh

Csaba -- you can stay in the sweat lodge! If you look at the second last exterior image you'll see a small dome located in a fenced enclosure next to a high walled exercise space. The dome is a sweat lodge. Elders from the local Indian Tribe visit the jail to perform traditional spiritual cleansing rituals with incarcerated members of their community. The elders seek to help the offenders return to their communities after serving their sentences as whole, spiritual people. The Province supports these efforts by allowing the elders to have a secure sweat lodge on the jail grounds. The sweat lodge is a small dome made of branches covered with tarps. In it a fire is lit filling the space with smoke and heat. Those involved in the rituals strip down , enter the lodge, and commune with the spirits. It is like a sauna but with a deep spiritual meaning to the aboriginal peoples. Importantly it keeps the Indian offenders close to the community that can help them live productive lives when eventually released.

Anyways, you, Mike and Solo can stay in the sweat lodge. The rituals involve the burning of tobacco. That should make you happy! None of those stupid cigarettes -- tobacco right on the fire breathed in the way the spirits intend!

Regards, Ross

(I think I have the story of the sweat lodge correct. I've only heard of their significance second hand so I might have some aspects of it wrong).

Gaieus

I was actually wondering what that little dome was.

The story should be correct as I know something similar, too (although read about the Sioux a bit farther to the west).

Well, if we can use beer instead of water to generate the steam, I do not mind.

Bryan K

Nice. Well done. Hope you get the project.

Ross Macintosh

@unknownuser said:

Hope you get the project.

It wasn't a proposal. It was a visualization produced just as we were moving into the design development phase. The design is based on an earlier small jail project I designed. My old architectural firm continues to work on the project but I've switched jobs. In my new job I've designed one other jail but now get to work on other kinds of projects too. I'm currently working on a couple of relatively large projects on a college campus - a nice change from criminal justice work. Good to mix it up a bit. There's probably another jail or two in me (and they will be fun) but it great to work on a variety of design projects.

Regards, Ross

Roger

I don't know about this one. Lacks that warm cheery feeling. Also needs something a little snappier in terms of style. All that gray can be terribly depressing.

Bryan K

@ross macintosh said:

@unknownuser said:

Hope you get the project.

It wasn't a proposal. It was a visualization produced just as we were moving into the design development phase. The design is based on an earlier small jail project I designed. My old architectural firm continues to work on the project but I've switched jobs. In my new job I've designed one other jail but now get to work on other kinds of projects too. I'm currently working on a couple of relatively large projects on a college campus - a nice change from criminal justice work. Good to mix it up a bit. There's probably another jail or two in me (and they will be fun) but it great to work on a variety of design projects.

Regards, Ross

Still, very well done. I hope your current projects will be fun.

Bryan K

@roger said:

I don't know about this one. Lacks that warm cheery feeling. Also needs something a little snappier in terms of style. All that gray can be terribly depressing.

Gaieus

Yeah, paint it pink, mauve and purple - those jail birds will do everything to avoid getting back there!

pyroluna

I really like how you've done the grass! Never thought of making bands in it. This way it doesn't matter if there is visible tiling...

Ross Macintosh

I don't know if Roger was being serious about colour & livening things up. Relative to most jails this one is actually exciting. Really.

Martha -- I attach the grass texture I used. The patterning is reminiscent of how some golf courses are mowed. It is a great texture to use when you've modelled terrain as it gives visual clues about the relative slopes.

Regards, Ross

Daniel

Good to see you posting again. Mr. Macintosh.
Nice project (as nice as a prison can be). Care to share the asphalt texture?

Ross Macintosh

@daniel said:

Care to share the asphalt texture?

Sure! I don't remember the source. I don't think it is a copyrighted one. Click on the image and save the bigger one.

I just checked in my model -- using the image I had the texture repeat set at about 36' wide and I used the colour wheel slider to darken it.

Regards, Ross

bytor

Nice work Ross, and great to see you back posting work here!

With all of the rendering apps and npr techniques around - it is refreshing to see some native su output again. As far as the subject matter goes - aesthetics isn't where they spend the money in these types of facilities. Priorities have changed over the years as I have seen quite a few old jails that had some wonderfull detail, as they typically were in town in proximity of the courthouse!

How are you finding the competition in Canada for correctional work Ross? Seems like everybody here is now an expert, as we often compete (NE-US) with 10-15 firms for projects that typically only had the 3-5 bigger players involved before.

Bytor

Robert

Very nice work! I love seeing what can be done with native SU output...it's very encouraging!
My wife will enjoy seeing these pics. She works in a correctional facility that is very far from being as nice as this one...
They don't even have a sauna or sweat lodge

Robert

watkins

Ross,

The outdoor area looks a little bleak. Shouldn't the prisoners be kept busy. How about a few glass houses and a large vegetable patch so that they can grow their own food. This would be good therapy, and after all, the devil makes work for idle hands. How many prisoners will the building house? I assume that the prisoners will have committed relatively minor crimes, and so are there for only a short period (a few months?)

Regards,
Bob

Mike Lucey

Mmmmmm .... a sweat lodge! ... now that's a thought. Also, now that I am rolling my own ciggies, chucking the tobacco on a fire would go down a treat. I wonder if there are any portable ones on the market, big enough for 3 smokers and a shaman And I found one that would look nice in the garden here, http://barrelsauna.com/advantages.html

Nice clean native SU work Ross, as per usual Also glad to hear that we are delving into other types of design.

Mike

Daniel

Thanks for the texture, Ross.

Ross Macintosh

@watkins said:

Ross,

The outdoor area looks a little bleak. Shouldn't the prisoners be kept busy. How about a few glass houses and a large vegetable patch so that they can grow their own food. This would be good therapy, and after all, the devil makes work for idle hands. How many prisoners will the building house? I assume that the prisoners will have committed relatively minor crimes, and so are there for only a short period (a few months?)

Regards,
Bob

The design is for a Provincially operated facility. By agreement with our Federal Government the Provinces have to house those sentenced up to "two years less a day". The profile of offenders includes those who have done violent crimes, rape, extortion, robbery, sex offenders, drunk drivers, and white-collar offences like fraud, information theft etc. Small jails like this may also have to house those remanded to custody but not yet sentenced. They can include axe murders, cop killers or any other kind of offender who is likely to be convicted and put away for years. Although such facilities also house those who get a month for refusing breathalyzer etc. the facilities can't really be thought of as low or medium security. (The public typically thinks they are because of the two-years-less-a-day thing but they really aren't).

The reality is that offenders in an institution like this only are let outdoors for one hour per day. They do that in small numbers (say up to 15 at a time) in a secure exercise yard -- in this case featuring 23 foot high solid walls. The standards are that each offender gets 3 square feet of window or access to the equivalent amount of daylight. Those windows typically have no opening more than five inches wide. While it might be nice to think offenders can go outside and garden the reality is they don't. With costs to incarcerate being what they are, Provinces have to house more and more offenders on less money. The biggest cost is staffing. They just can't afford the staffing resources needed to supervise taking the offenders out of the secure building. Note that facilities like this don't have big perimeter security fencing, watch towers etc. There are fences but they are primarily intended to keep the public away and avoid drug drops etc. Our Provincial jails have no weapons --- correctional workers do not carry guns; there are none in the entire facility.

So if you find yourself incarcerated in one of our jails don't expect you'll be out gardening, getting a university degree, or learning a trade. You'll spend countless hours playing cards and watching TV with people you'd likely rather not spend any time with and can't get away from. You'll eat whatever food they give you and have a shower when they tell you to. You'll live by schedule with practically no personal freedom of choice. If you are lucky you'll have access to some paperback books - romance novels and the like. If you know people who'll accept your collect calls you can use a phone but your call is monitored and you get no privacy. Once a week you might get a visitor but in many facilities your visit will be secure -- looking at each other through bullet resistant glass and talking on a monitored handset. You won't get out for the birth of your child, death of a family member or for any other reason except a medical emergency. Frankly it will really suck and yet your family & friends will think it is a country club where you are babied. A large percentage of the public think offenders should have to do hard labour like digging useless holes.

I hope none of us end up in jail.

Regards, Ross