Our Justice Design Leaders will be speaking at the AAJ Fall Conference 2026: Designing for Justice Positive and Community Connection. The conference will explore the pivotal role architects play within the justice system, emphasizing the societal impact and community connection of their designs in justice facilities.

Carving a New Path | Women Designing for Women, Heart River Correctional Center

• Wednesday Oct. 7 | 3:30 PM – 4:30 PM
  Principal and Justice+Civic Leader April Pottorff, FAIA

  At the new Heart River Correctional Center, Women Designing for Women establishes a new paradigm and breaks with the tradition of adapting male-centric correctional models to serve the needs of incarcerated women. Joined by Colby Braun, director of the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and Connie Hackman Rivinius, warden at Heart River Correctional Center, Principal and Justice+Civic Leader, April Pottorff, will explore how the new facility’s design reflects the experiences and input of current and former women residents of the North Dakota correctional system. Drawing on feedback from residents and the design team’s own lived experience, the facility offers healthy, trauma-informed spaces filled with daylight. Spaces for living, reflecting, socializing, and restoring relationships with families and children.

People-First Design: Centering Human Experience in Justice Spaces

• Thursday Oct. 8 | 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
  Senior Interior Designer Sarah Larson, NCIDQ, IIDA, and Gary Retel, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

  Drawing from professional practice in justice and civic interiors, this presentation explores how people-centered thinking is reshaping justice environments today, from courthouses and detention facilities to community-facing civic spaces. Attendees will learn how People-First Design integrates Trauma-Informed, Biophilic, Neuro-Inclusive, and Universal Design into a cohesive methodology specifically suited to the complexities of justice settings.