Academy of Architecture for Justice

Personal Information

• What is your favorite piece of architecture?
  GV:        The Seattle Public Library is always my short answer to this question.  It’s a very cool building as a whole, but it was the interior experience/ progression that has really stuck with me. 

• What degrees did you earn and at what college?
  GV:        B-Arch, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 

• When did you first know that you wanted to be an architect?
  GV:        I made the decision in the 6^th grade and never strayed.

Experience

• What firm do you work for and how long have you been with your current firm?
  GV:        SMRT Architects and Engineers, 7 years 

• What is your role within your firm?
  GV:        Associate Principal Architect, Director of Justice Practice

Why Justice?

• What prompted you to begin working within the field of Justice Architecture?
  GV:       I was working on a lot of healthcare projects and was becoming increasing drawn into the conversations around restorative justice practices coming out of our Justice group at the time.  The connections between that work and my own existing interest in the criminal justice reform movement really brought me in. 

• What has been your most rewarding justice project to date?
  GV:        The Southern Maine Women’s Reentry Center, for the Maine Department of Corrections.  The MDOC has a very  progressive reentry program and needed a facility to support that operational model.  This was a very successful project because the vision of the organization was clear and the community really supported their mission. 

• What do you find most challenging about working in the justice architecture field?
  GV:        The challenges around aligning the facility needs and vision with the project budget, and more directly, the subsequent stopping and starting on the design side as a result of funding challenges.  A lot of my work is with small to medium size counties and a new county jail is often the largest project their community has ever undertaken. Even with a strong case and successful public outreach efforts, obtaining public support for funding is always the biggest challenge.

The future of the justice market

• As it relates to the justice market, what do you hope to accomplish in the next 10 years?
  GV:        As an individual I hope we make progress on every aspect of the justice system.  I hope we reduce our need for correctional facilities by expanding the availability of behavioral health services; by reforming the process that we use to sentence individuals; and by increasing the services provided to the incarcerated to better their chances of succeeding on the outside.  As a justice architect I hope to plan and design facilities that create a restorative environment and support rehabilitative programming, helping inmates to make a successful reentrance into society.  I hope to work myself out of a job.

Architecture as social responsibility is the common element in Graham’s practice, the power of design to create sustainable, life-affirming environments and communities. Graham leads SMRT’s justice practice. Since joining the firm in 2011, he has designed corrections facilities as well as schools and hospitals that enable dedicated people to help others. Always one for adventure, he is an avid mountain biker and snowboarder. A Portland Maine native, in his down time Graham advocates for progressive design and planning strategies in the greater Portland area through his involvement in the Portland Society for Architecture.

(Return to the cover of this 2018 AAJ Journal issue)