Empty Spaces: Architecture Healing the Emptiness within Victims of Abuse and Sexual Exploitation

Alternative Title

Empty Spaces: Discovering How Architecture Can Facilitate the Healing of Victims of Abuse and Sexual Exploitation

Author

• Keira Rachac

Files

Date of Award

2020

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

https://hdl.handle.net/10365/31873

Publisher

North Dakota State University

Rights

NDSU policy 190.6.2

URI

https://www.ndsu.edu/fileadmin/policy/190.pdf

Abstract

Just as death is underrepresented in modern society, women who have been exploited in abuse, domestic violence, stalking, rape, and sex trafficking have also become underrepresented. A voice needs to be given to these women who are forgotten and misunderstood. They need a place to heal and find their voice again. This will happen in a women’s shelter that focuses on the architectural healing of their psyche in the public setting of a shopping mall. The shelter will also give a voice to those who have not yet escaped their oppression through its mood and experiences in the spaces. Through in person interviews and phenomenological research, I will be able to understand the needs of these women and apply them to my design.

Recommended Citation

Rachac, Keira, "Empty Spaces: Architecture Healing the Emptiness within Victims of Abuse and Sexual Exploitation" (2020). Architecture Theses. 740.
https://digitalcommons.ndsu.edu/architecture-theses/740