ABSTRACT
IN THE DECADE preceding the new millennium, the thrust of museum and prison design became both more comprehensive and more particular. Private museums and privately run prisons became testing grounds for new architects and architectural solutions. Usually smaller and more nimbly managed, private facilities of exhibition and detention are hotbeds of innovation, and of eccentricity. As they are often “lite” in their holdings — built for low-risk inmates and less-established art — they enjoy far more latitude in their design and philosophy. This chapter looks first at the surge in “personal” museums, and then at the private prison industry, before assessing the role of the private sector in both fields.
