Essex County Jail Plus (ECJ +)

The ECJ+ studio pursued a design strategy to help save Newark’s Essex County Jail by conjoining it to an adjacent site currently used as a parking lot. Working closely with NJIT’s Office of Real Estate Development and Capital Operations, the studio proposed new buildings on the parking lot site to serve future housing and academic needs according to three types: laboratories, undergraduate housing, and graduate apartments. Each proposal sought to complement passive recreation on the jail site to help in its preservation, fusing it to the lot site’s open spaces surrounding the academic or residential programs. The studio built upon prior work by Columbia University that provided detailed plans, elevations, and a 3D digital model that later absorbed photogrammetry created by Columbia, NJIT and an augmented reality consultant. The overall effort coordinated with a $70,500 grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust, which funded 2-D and 3-D printing for NJIT students. Select students presented to senior staff at NJIT, including President Bloom and Provost Deek, who praised the work and pledged to incorporate strategies developed with future NJIT planning.