At this year’s Chicago Architecture Biennial the directors Joseph Grima and Sarah Herda asked participating architects to demonstrate the “State of the Art of Architecture" by submitting projects that they felt told a story about architecture’s importance in society. As explained in this video by Politico Magazine, native Chicagoan Jeanne Gang of Studio Gang Architects responded to this call by looking at an issue that has plagued American cities in startling ways in recent years: the troubled relationships between communities and their police forces. Often hidden behind fortress-like buildings, police stations in their current form tend to project an image closer to hostile than welcoming. But Gang believes it doesn’t have to be that way.
In Studio Gang’s proposal for the Polis Station - a concept named after the Greek word for community - elements of a police station are broken apart and integrated into their community. Police housing is woven into the existing neighborhood fabric to familiarize residents with officers, training and athletic facilities are opened to the community, and comfortable neutral sites such as cafes are designing to act as meeting places where citizens can fill out reports in a more inviting atmosphere. Even the main terminal building features a computer lab and a mental health clinic, so there is never any suspicion of what may be happening behind closed doors.
