Point—Counterpoint

Abstract Point—Counterpoint is an installation at Eastern State Penitentiary National Historic Landmark in Philadelphia. Operational from 1830 to 1971, the prison is now a museum. One of the largest and most technologically advanced buildings of its day, Eastern State “linked solitude with moral and vocational instruction, exemplified the Pennsylvania System of penology, and became a model for over 300 prisons worldwide.”1 This installation initiates a conversation with the prison's architect, John Haviland (1792–1852), about Eastern State's influential role in establishing an architectural type—the radial prison.