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Modernist or Convicted Felon?

1. His room is spare, clean, and well lit.
2. The dining area is spacious and white, with a subtle, almost imperceptible low humming drone.
3. He eats alone, although he is often surrounded by others.
4. He spends time in isolation.
5. Daily, he shuffles aimlessly in the enclosed yard, trying to avoid eye contact, until it’s time to go back inside.
6. The facility is gated.
7. Out his window, he can see a harsh, rocky bluff.
8. Even though he is well guarded, protected by alarms, high walls, security cameras, and motion detection devices, still… he never really feels safe.
9. None of the windows are operable.
10. Each room in here is only as large as it needs to be.
11. He has struggled with many forms of addiction.
12. Once again, he will shower in full public view. Once again, he will long for frosted glass.
13. His stay here has completely ruined his finances.
14. He has very few pieces of furniture.
15. Since he’s been here, no one has come to visit.
16. Although they still love him, his family doesn’t understand what he did to end up here. They don’t understand why he chose to live this way. Where did they go wrong?
17. He is surrounded by metals, mostly stainless steel.
18. Every morning, he sits upright, waits for his eyes to adjust to the light, and then slowly, almost reluctantly, swings his legs over the edge of the bed and steps onto the hard, cold concrete floor, solemnly starting another day.

{ Coffee with an Architect }

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all photos are from Averain’s photostream on Flickr and have been used under creative commons license.