Investigation into the local road network triggered a fascination by the unclassified aspect, and how it intersects the recognised and remembered road network. My concept developed as I explored the unknown and it’s duality with the known. Upon resolution, I took an interest into how institutionalised convicts experience a change of dynamics and emotion as they decay from memory over time, towards a state of dystopia. The change they experience involves being removed from society and constrained by in-penetrable architecture, often cold and dark. Prison culture describes the psychological experience of this, emphasising a to return to open society. I chose to explore this through a thesis – an opportunity to compare a utopian and dystopian narrative reflected by how prisoners perceive space – these spaces are described as the ‘Remembered’ space and the ‘Forgotten’ space, which like my concept, resemble the known and the unknown.

The remembered space contrasts the forgotten space, being remembered for its innovative and utopian attributes – the form stands radiant amongst the fabric of the urban realm. It is contextual, therefore memorable. A monumental form raised above ground, it is where the forgotten prisoners desire to ascend. The forgotten space remains concealed beneath – it is consigned to oblivion for it is a not a space to be remembered. It triggers fear in the mind sharp, dangerous devices and ornament embedded within decaying surroundings, which describes the deterioration of a prisoner’s memory as he descends.