Date of Submission

Spring 4-22-2025

Degree Type

Dissertation/Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Architecture

Department

Architecture

Committee Chair/First Advisor

Robin Puttock

Abstract

Domestic violence is a nationwide social plague that effects millions of women each year and has increased in severity since Covid-19 (2020-2022). In the state of Georgia, 37.4% of women report experiencing some sort of physical violence by an intimate partner (NCADV, 2020). Severity and frequency of domestic violence increases drastically if the victim is living in a rural location. Qualitative studies conducted in Iowa, North Carolina, and Virginia all report that on average, women living in rural areas report 150% more domestic violence experiences at a higher severity than their urban counterparts and must travel on average 300% further to access resources (Eastman et al, 2007; Peek-Asa et al, 2011). As well, rural women are nearly twice as likely to be turned away from services because the lack the necessary space, staffing, resources, and training to provide proper care for the victims (Peek-Asa et al, 2011). Also, the efficiency of existing shelters often falls short due to poor architectural design and lack of security (Lygum et al, 2013). Complications arise when approaching this issue due to factors such as the geographic isolation of victims, meaning less public visibility and greater distances between homes, religious pressure from the church and family members for women to stay with the abuser and maintain the family, and poverty levels creating difficulty of access to vehicles or public transportation (Eastman et al, 2007).

The building typology of a women’s shelter will be reimagined to better apply to a modern stage using qualitative research from an architect-conducted survey that has been compared to similar existing research. This new typology will be tested on a site in Homerville Georgia to address the psychological and spatial needs of victims, the most important of these needs include the feeling of being protected (secure architecture), a sense of community (social spaces), access to medical assistance (operating/examination rooms), and appropriate design to accommodate living spaces for both women and/or their children (Eastman et al, 2007). Construction of this project must be efficient and cost effective as to not diminish the already limited financial resources available to public services, but still secure enough to provide a safe space for rural victims of domestic violence.

Research for this thesis will be broken up into multiple different sections. To give the architect a better understanding of the victim’s condition and needs, surveys and interviews were conducted during the summer of 2024 at women’s shelters in rural Georgia with both the residents and shelter staff, and literature reviews were done to compare collected data with similar research. This provided an updated set of data to be used and compared with older information (pre Covid-19). To determine the site for the project, mapping was used to locate a site in Georgia with the least access to domestic violence crisis centers. Finally, construction methods and building design will be studied through precedents that share the scope of being low cost, remote, secure, and inhabitant-friendly design for the purpose of applying efficient design methods.

Comments

Featured in Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 at the Symposium of Student Scholars

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