The Vernon C. Bain Center (VCBC) was, until recently, an 800-bed, 38-meter-wide, 191-meter-long floating jail moored in the South Bronx, New York City. From 1992-2023, it operated as an auxiliary jail of the Rikers Island jail complex and as the primary intake facility for the Bronx. Additionally, the VCBC is the only floating structure ever purpose-built as a detention site. Although the VCBC closed in November 2023, the facility is still moored in the South Bronx, and the city refuses to comment on its plans for it.
There is practically no information about the facility in the public record. Vegezzi has begun locating various documentation, including financial records and correspondences that have never been assembled nor made public. Their long-term goal is to create a publicly accessible archive on the facility within New York City. The archive would provide full context on the facility's history and infrastructure for the general public, community activists, researchers, and journalists.
Recent engagements:
Group exhibition and roundtable discussion
Curated by Krisztina Hunya
April 19th-June 9th, 2024
Budapest Galeria
Budapest, Hungary
Developed a two-part lecture and workshop program on histories of maritime detention for undergraduate and graduate architecture students at Unmasking Space on April 24/26th, 2024, the first student-led course in the Department of Architecture at ETH Zürich.