This competition called for a 21st-century prototype for a correctional facility. A prototype is a basic form that can be reproduced, repeated, or transformed in context while preserving core standards. In reality, however, applying fixed standard models to varied situations is difficult, so contemporary “prototypes” often collapse into a single, endlessly repeated form in the name of productivity. A new prototype must first redefine its input: as long as it meets certain standards, it should generate both high productivity and diverse variations without relying on simple copying or superficial transformation. It also requires clear criteria to unify, sort, and understand the many outcomes it produces.

In this project, (1) the spatial organization of the correctional facility is interpreted as a fractal—each part forming a whole, and wholes aggregating to form a new whole—encoded as a type database and algorithmic standard; and (2) surveillance levels are calculated based on the relationship between security lines and cells. Minimal input conditions generate partial spatial fragments that vary according to a random-seed algorithm. This process is akin to dissolving a solute in a solvent with an agitator: as the agitator’s speed changes, finely divided spatial elements and programs continuously combine and separate, producing new configurations.

While the extreme voyeurism of the panopticon is usually viewed as problematic, a certain degree of observation is unavoidable in correctional facilities, given the managerial relationship between guards and inmates and the need to maintain social safety. What becomes crucial, then, is the inmate’s perception of this gaze. In current Korean facilities, corridors outside the cells are used solely for surveillance and circulation. When (1) the space outside the cell is only for watching and moving, disconnected from the inmate’s life, (2) prisoners cannot choose whether or how to engage with the outside, and (3) voyeuristic intensity is high, meaningful emotional interaction—central to contemporary correctional philosophy—becomes unlikely. For a 21st-century correctional facility, this project seeks a new balance between inmates’ rights and institutional security through a calibrated mix of outward, selective, and intersecting (crossed) gaze.