In Rome, in Rebibbia women’s prison, Renzo Piano has inaugurated Ma.Ma, the “House for affectivity and maternity”. The project gives to inmates women the possibility to meet their loved ones in a cosy space, which looks like it’s been out of a kid’s imagination, with the perimeter silhouette containing and embracing the same but smaller one of the entrance.

The little house has been built during the last two years by the inmates themselves, tighter with the three young architects Martina Passeri, Attilio Mazzetto and Tommaso Marenaci, supervised and coordinated by the professor Pisana Posocco. 28 square meters in the middle of a groove, which immediately evokes a safe atmosphere.

In the huge universe of Rebibbia feminine jail, where prisoners at the moment are 320, the little red house wouldn’t satisfy the needs of all the inmates, however it is hoped that can represent an important and symbolic starting point in order to develop similar project.

In his long and prestigious career, Piano has never had the opportunity to design a prison. “But the topic has always attracted me, like that of healthcare, universities, schools,” the architect said: “these are the places of civilization, the ones where civil rituals find space.”