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Rethinking Detention Centres for Youth with Complex Needs: Towards Supportive Environments in Strenči

Rethinking detention centres for youth - a developmental pathway, not a place of confinement. Conventional detention institutions treats space as constraint: walls that separate, corridors that surveil. This project proposes the opposite - architecture that turns control into empowerment. Grounded in Edward Soja's Thirdspace theory, a supportive environment for youth with complex needs takes shape in Strenči. A place that heals, rather than contains. Its core is "The Life Road" - a transition from control to freedom above the wetland: flood protection and space that supports growth.

Author: Diāna Medena

Client: RISEBA University, Faculty of Architecture and Design (RISEBA FAD)

Address or location:
Strenči, Latvia

Commissioning:
2024-2026

Partners:
Scientific supervisors: Dr. arch. Ilze Paklone, M. arch. Andris Kronbergs

Author of photos:
Diāna Medena

Partners