The Art of Getting By by AA School

the art of getting by:

from domestic abuse to social housing

thomas faulkner

contents

Abstract

Introduction

Outline

Part I Domestic Abuse and its Relationship to Architecture Words and Spaces - Situating The Architect Domestic Abuse

Relevant

Victim

Domestic Abuse Act

A Newborn Policy

Social Housing

The House and The Survivor

The House as a Weapon

The House as a Means of Escape

The House in Delaying Recovery

The House in Enabling Recovery

contents

Part II A Guide to Adapting Existing Infrastructure Introduction Designing and Constructing for Post-Domestic Abuse Recovery

Four Stages Towards An Architecture of Recovery

Who is the Design Guide For?

Design Principles

Elements of Design

1.1 Panic Button

1.2 Balcony

1.3 Living Room

1.4 Kitchen

1.5 Buffer Zone

1.6 Public Toilet

1.7 Crèche

Fabrication and Structural Analysis

2.1 Location: Height as a Threshold for Safety

2.2 Materiality

2.3 Soft Frame: Beam

2.4 Soft Junction: Ceiling

2.5 Soft Wall: Cork

2.6 Soft Skin: Timber Shingles

2.7 Safety in Sight: Parapet

2.8 Green Boundary

2.9 Safety in Sight: Window

2.10 Adjoining Neighbour

Conclusion Appendices Bibliography

104 106 112

abstract

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

There is a correlation between architecture and the recovery of the domestic abuse survivor. This correlation is currently not considered in enough depth or holistically (as the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act shows). The essay proposes that the role architecture plays in abuse is able to inform how architecture should play a holistic part in the design of long term housing in order to aid the recovery of the abuse survivor. The essay concludes with a practical example of how a retrofitting to existing social housing can realistically aid the process of post-abuse recovery.

DOMESTIC ABUSE INCREASE DURING PANDEMIC 2019-2020 1:25000

ABERDEEN

GLASGOW

EDINBURGH

1100 1%

800 NEWCASTLE

5% 600

3000

5% 3500

200

BLACKPOOL

8% LIVERPOOL

SCARBOROUGH

400

1800 2%

1500 3%

GRIMSBY

500

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14% 900 500 8% 2%

NORFOLK

700

ABERYSTWYTH

6% 1000 1%

1000

400 700 9%

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2% 300

500

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100

CARDIFF BARNSTAPLE

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IPSWICH

800 2%

LONDON

700

MARGATE

N/A

WORTHING

WEYMOUTH

100 2500

1100

600

NORWICH

1800

34,000 DVPO’s

FALMOUTH

- data source-

review of policing domestic abuse during pandemic 2021 hmicers 0

150

Figure 1. mapping of domestic abuse within england 2019 compared with 2021. data source from hmicers.

225

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the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

introduction ‘For women it is the street rather than the home which offers a place of safety. For example, one respondent reported to us that she increased the level of home security…Later she found that this increased her confinement and hampered escape when she was held at knife point by her husband. The woman suffered rape and wounding inside her heavily protected front door.’1 - Laura Goldsack

Architectural literature often describes the home as a haven for the family, the castle behind closed doors giving control to the resident and a sanctuary of protection provided by a fortress of external walls.2 However, fifty years of women’s rights, policy amendments and cultural movements have opened up an awareness of the extensive dangers of the home. For many, the home as a haven has become an illusion. During 2020 in England and Wales, the police recorded 1,288,018 incidents of domestic abuse.3 Defined in its narrowest sense as abusive behaviour from one person to another person over the age of 16, domestic abuse is a life-altering affair that has ongoing consequences.4 Forced into the daylight by national lockdowns producing staggeringly high percentages of abuse, the UK government issued a response to these statistics in April 2021 by giving royal assent to the Domestic Abuse Act (DAA) [fig. 1].5 On the back of the movements that introduced refuge shelters and the provision of social housing, this Act is the latest policy to address domestic abuse by administering a new level of priority to survivors for their protection, support, funding and housing. In doing so, the Act reveals the implicit link that architecture has to domestic abuse. Nevertheless, the Act’s engagement with architecture is limited to a surface-level discussion of housing: it gives no guidance regarding the spatial qualities that should be present within the home of the abuse survivor in order to support their long term recovery. This omission could well lead to a downfall of the very aims domestic abuse policies are seeking to achieve. Interviews with survivors disclose how architecture has been tampered with, even abused, within the domestic sphere, in order to create a weapon of violence [appendix a, p.106]. Highlighting the architectural features that have been used as a tool in abuse exposes the need for the architect to be included to a far greater extent in the process of rehousing the survivor of domestic abuse. Furthermore, it identifies the potential for a redesign of these features in order to develop a repeatable methodology that supports the survivor’s recovery. Through learning from personal accounts of abuse in the home, and by using existing shelters and architectures of care as a precedent to the design intention, the role of architecture and the position of the architect within the conversation of domestic abuse can have a unique impact in transitioning the survivor’s experience of home from a series of triggers into a suitable environment for recovery. There is considerable potential in the access to social housing provided by the DAA, but the architect must be given a greater role in influencing this area of response to domestic abuse in order to effect realistic, long term change.

1. Laura Goldsack, A Haven in a Heartless World: Women and Domestic Violence, in Ideal Homes? Social Change and Domestic life, ed. Tony Chapman and Jenny Hockey. (London: Routledge, 1999), 130. 2. Pier Vittoria Aureli and Maira Sheherazade Giudici, Familiar Horror: Toward a Critique of Domestic Space, in Log, no.38 (2016), 126. 3. Office for National Statistics, Domestic Abuse Prevalence and Trends, England and Wales: Year Ending March 2020, England, 2020. https://www.ons.gov.uk/ 4. Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament, Domestic Abuse Act 2021, (UK, TSO, 2021), 2. 5. Ibid., 36.

introduction.

Figure 2. Mr. and Mrs. Paul, and their children Belinda and Cliff, say grace before starting their meal. (the home as a haven)

introduction.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

It is architecture that provides the stage set for domestic abuse; furthermore, it is architecture that provides the tools of violence for abuse. It is architecture that gives the abuser the privacy and power to perpetrate their violence and it is architecture that casts the characters of abuser, abused and the peripheral reticent neighbour. Therefore, it is imperative to recognise the significant role of the architecture within domestic abuse and consequently, the role it must play, following such incidents, to become an architectural antonym, transitioning the perception and application of the house from a place of violence, into a home of refuge.

the stage is set itself a tool of force curtained to provide both privacy and power to every violent scene; the cast of two – abuser and abused and those outside, with minds averted, waiting in the wings. Interval

introduction.

4000 3500 weekly calls

3000 2500 2000

Figure 3. Increase in domestic abuse statistics during the weeks of uk’s national lockdown. data source: london school of economics.

un 4j -1

ay un 8j

ay ma

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- data source london school of economics

introduction.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

outline Domestic abuse has been given little attention when it comes to its connection with architecture despite the very title referring to the environment of the home. With the drastic rise in cases of domestic abuse as a result of the 2020 national lockdowns and the continuing rise in at-home working, the relationship between the home and occurrences of domestic abuse has become a more prominent issue post-pandemic than it was before. [fig. 3] Formulated in response to the lack of focus given to the spatial implications of domestic abuse, this study has been divided into two components. Part I explores ‘Domestic abuse and its relationship with architecture’, focusing on the implicit link that architecture, and more specifically, social housing, has with domestic abuse and the effect this ought to have on the development of safeguarding structures. It contends the need for a spatial criteria to accompany the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act that would provide an architecture of care tailored to the domestic abuse survivor. Interviews with survivors, identifying patterns of triggers caused by architectural features within the home, are used to form an understanding of why existing social housing is not currently appropriate for post-trauma, long-term recovery. Part II presents ‘A guide to adapting existing infrastructure’, which proposes a method of response to the need for a spatial criteria. This incorporates a series of principles and techniques designed to facilitate the retrofitting of existing social housing in order to aid the development of post-abuse recovery spaces in line with the policies of the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act. The guide may be viewed as either a separate initiative for abuse survivors or as a supporting documentation to the already established 2021 Domestic Abuse Act. The body of research in both stages of the study has been heavily influenced and gratefully aided by interviews with survivors of domestic abuse and professionals who have worked either in the sector of domestic abuse or frameworks of care. The process of domestic abuse from policy to recovery as seen through the lens of the architect, makes clear the obvious correlation that links not only events of harm but also the process of recovery, to that of the surrounding building. As a result, it is clear that measurable changes are able to play a part in supporting the survivor who has already undergone such drastic forms of living.

11.

12.

part 1.

(pt57.1) Support provided by local authorities to victims of domestic abuse. Each relevant local authority in England must: (a) assess, or make arrangements for the assessment of, the need for accommodation-based support in its area, (b) prepare and publish a strategy for the provision of such support in its area, and (c) monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the strategy.

Figure 4. understanding the domestic abuse act’s support in provision of accommodation.

part 1.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

13.

Domestic Abuse and its Relationship to Architecture words and spaces - situating the architect The correlation between words and physical space plays a key role in the discussion of subjects that are considered to be social issues; this is often due to the process of support finding its base in national legislation and local policy. The use of key terms, the way in which we understand them, and their interrelational dialogue with policy development, dictates the structure and final objective of the policy output. It is as Thomas Markus states: ‘language is at the core of making, using and understanding buildings’.6 Therefore, in order to highlight – and implement – the importance of space (being the domain of the architect) and the process of recovery it provides to the domestic abuse survivor, it is crucial to first address key terms within the relevant policy and their individual relationship with architecture.

6. Thomas Markus, Buildings and Power (London, Routledge, 1993)

A brief analysis of key words used within the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act, helps to identify and establish the position of the architect. Although they are not defined incorrectly, the current definitions (or lack thereof) presented in the policy of the words ‘domestic abuse’ ‘relevant’ and ‘victim’, and the way in which they have been used, have thus far shut the architect out of the conversation, as no criteria is given regarding the spaces provided for the abuse survivor. However, by examining and expanding on what these words mean, it clarifies the necessary changes required within this newborn policy, and the consequences this could have on the use of the home as a tool to aid recovery.

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

domestic abuse as an architectural issue alternative readings of the term ‘domestic abuse’

domestic duties and activities concerned with the running of a home and family abuse to treat someone cruelly or violently II

domestic belonging or relating to the home, house or family abuse to use something for the wrong purpose in a way that is harmful or morally wrong

Figure 5. common understanding of the words domestic and abuse, and the inclusion of the home in the conversation.

words and spaces

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

15.

‘domestic abuse’: The role that the materiality of the home plays in the process of domestic abuse, from perpetration to recovery, and the role of the architect in addressing domestic abuse can be best understood by expanding on the relationship these two words have with one another, domestic and abuse.7 Though the term is new to British legislation, with its first use in policy being the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act, receiving royal assent in April 2021, the background to the policy has been partially addressed prior to the Act under alternative legislations.8 Policies and laws using language such as ‘coverture’9 (1300’s), ‘the rule of thumb’10 (1700’s), ‘wife battering’11 (1800’s), and ‘violence against women and girls’12 (1994) all the way until the latest laws surrounding ‘domestic violence’13 (2004), have identified the position of an individual’s status and the treatment she/he receives or does not receive within a relationship. Although these display a broad understanding of ways in which domestic abuse within policy traces back hundreds of years, this newest term of ‘domestic abuse’ is the first to explicitly address how the fabric of the home itself has been violated for the purpose of harm. A study into the words ‘domestic abuse’ reveals how acts of violence from the abuser correlate to the physical space inhabited by these events. Although concerned with the activity of the family (whether formally established through marriage or children, or informally structured with no legal binding) and the activity within the family by which someone is treated cruelly or violently, a rethinking of the definition of the term ‘domestic abuse’ also identifies the role architecture plays in these activities. Domestic is understood most commonly as ‘duties and activities concerned with the running of a home and family’ and abuse understood as ‘treating someone cruelly or violently’, leading to the common understanding of domestic abuse as ‘activities within the family that treat someone cruelly or violently.’14 The DAA defines the term as ‘abuse carried out by a person who is personally connected to the victim of the abuse.’15 However, an alternative understanding ropes the architect into a social conversation. Domestic can also be defined as ‘belonging or relating to the home or house’ and abuse ‘to use something for the wrong purpose in a way that is harmful or morally wrong’.16 The term ‘domestic abuse’ acknowledges, then, how the infrastructure of the home or house is misused in a way that is harmful; and through this additional understanding, the role of the house within the context of abuse becomes that of an accomplice to the abuser. [fig.5] It is acknowledged that abuse centres itself wholly upon the perpetrator of it, and there is no evidence, nor suggestion, that space is a motive to initiate injurious or offensive treatment (partially proven by the wide demographic who experience domestic abuse, and the range of domestic spaces lived in by these people). Nevertheless, as shown within this thesis through the accounts of survivors of domestic abuse, the space of perpetration, that of the home, has been mishandled in order to generate a weapon through which actions of harm are inflicted. The question then falls back to the architect of how a home can be designed to deny the abuser of their methods to inflict harm. Domestic abuse, therefore, is a subject for the architect.

7. Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament, Domestic Abuse Act 2021, Jeff James, (UK, TSO, 2021), 35. 8. Landmark Domestic Abuse Bill receives Royal Assent, April 2021 <www.gov.uk/government/news/ landmark-domestic-abuse-billreceives-royalassent> 9. Tim Stretton and Krista J Kesselring, Married Women and the Law: Coverture in England and the Common Law World (Montreal: McGills-Queens University Press, 2013), 28. 10. The Meaning and Origin of the Expression: Rule of Thumb <https:// www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/ruleof-thumb.html> 11. Jennifer Dehnel, A Report on Domestic Abuse 2016 <https:// www.rutlandcab.org.uk/downloads/ Domestic%20Abuse%20Report. pdf>, 1-2. 12. Violence Against Women Act, 1994 13. Domestic Violence and Crime Act, 2004 14. Collins English dictionary (2020) Available from: http://www. collinsdictionary.com/english/ creative [Accessed 15 April 2022]. 15. Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament, Domestic Abuse Act 2021, Jeff James, (UK, TSO, 2021), 66. 16. Ibid.

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

‘relevant’: The Domestic Abuse Act states that support in relation to housing for domestic abuse refugees is to be ‘relevant accommodation’.17 The Domestic Abuse Support Regulations 2021 document further expands on this term, stating that accommodation is ‘relevant’ when ‘provided by a local housing authority, a private registered provider of social housing or a registered charity whose objects include the provision to victims of domestic abuse’.18 Concerned more with the provider than the survivor, accommodation becomes a means of removing the abused from the abuser, again more concerned with the locale of the abuser than the abused. As a consequence, the abused refugee is often located in a foreign region, within an existing available social housing settlement, that often is only available due to the poor condition of the infrastructure. Using current social housing as a response results in the abused entering onto a waiting list for many years. With such a high demand on housing, the local authority has one objective when housing the refugee: safety. The DAA’s strategy provides priority to the domestic refugee to access council-owned housing; this response is primarily a plan that prioritises immediate safety, removing the abuse survivor from the epicentre of harm and relocating them into a protected environment. However, safety as the only defining factor for relevant housing does not consider location, quality, and an architecture of care. Instead, the housing provided often offers poor living conditions and an isolated lifestyle.19 The problem with the word ‘relevant’ being synonymous merely with the idea of physical safety is that it is focused too much on separation from the perpetrator of abuse. To be safe is considered as being hidden from the cause of harm (the abuser); however, the damage that has taken place in an abusive relationship has far overreached the boundaries of physical injury. Almost every discussion had with survivors has explained that they ‘could live with the physical abuse but it was the mental abuse that would be too much to bear.’20 Safety for the abused must consider the impact that has been made to the psychological, physical and spiritual wellbeing of the survivor. It is not enough that the DAA should view appropriate accommodation as exclusively focused on physical safety alone when social housing has the opportunity to be revised in order to offer the survivor a more holistic architecture of care.21 Therefore, in order to support recovery, the home must be rethought and adapted to prevent continued harm to the state of one’s psychological, physical and spiritual wellbeing; and in doing so, convince the survivor that the home is once again, or even for the first time, a haven. Relevant accommodation, that considers all aspects of wellbeing, is a subject for the architect.

17. Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament, Domestic Abuse Act 2021, Jeff James, (UK, TSO, 2021), 35. 18. Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament, 2021 No. Housing, England – The Domestic Abuse Support (Relevant Accommodation) Regulations 2021 19. Val Binney, Gina Harkell, Judy Nixon, Private Violence and Public Policy, Edt. Jan Pahl (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985) 177. 20. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, CC, January 2022 21. Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament, Domestic Abuse Act 2021, Jeff James, (UK, TSO, 2021), 35.

words and spaces

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

‘victim’: The DAA requires that accommodation-based support is assessed and provided for by the local authority. Handed over from a national scale to local, it aims to achieve a site-specific response, providing relevant support for ‘victims of domestic abuse’.22 The problem comes in the use of the word ‘victim’. Though the identified person or persons is clear, the use of ‘victim’ as an identifying title can weaken the position of the abused by invoking a sense of inability or frailty.23 Although the abused can be and often are in a state of fragility, there is a quality of strength to the abused, having endured physical and psychological suffering often over many months and years. Arguably, they are not victims of abuse but survivors of abuse. As warriors in a domestic battlefield, discussions and research has shown that the survivor will identify with the idea of a soldier more than a hostage.24 Yet, how does the perception of victim or survivor become a subject for the architect? The victim is a captive, prisoner or hostage in their own home, held against their will, and therefore any rescue that will remove them from the epicentre of violence is arguably ‘relevant’. In this scenario, the condition and criteria of re-housing the victim is set to zero - a concept based on the approach that says no matter where they are taking me, it is better because it is far from my abuser. However, speaking with survivors of domestic abuse reveals that the idea of this approach is far from the case; very often survivors do not leave the house of abuse because they are concerned that the homes offered within social housing will be detrimental to their own health or the health of their children, rendering the policy’s approach rudimentary.25 Moreover, the survivor is a trooper, an overcomer, a veteran who is deserving of a home that responds appropriately to the trauma they have experienced. Designing for the PTSD of a military veteran has been given much consideration within architecture, and it is this same level of care that should be considered when addressing the home of a survivor of domestic abuse.26 The victim is not a subject for the architect, the victim is a subject for the law; but the space of the survivor is a subject for the architect as it is imperative that this space should be informed by the trauma caused by the experience of domestic abuse.

22. Queen’s Printer of Acts of Parliament, Domestic Abuse Act 2021, (UK, TSO, 2021), 36. 23. Interview with Author Prof Jan Pahl, Feburary, 2022 24. Angela Martindale, The Warrior Inside: 3 Ways I Healed From Domestic Abuse, Sept 2021 https:// everydaypower.com/ways-healeddomestic-abuse 25. See Appendix B, p. 10 26. Anne Marie Garcia, Empathy in Architecture: Using Trauma-Informed Design to Promote Healing, Sept 2020 < https://e4harchitecture. com/empathy-in-architectureusing-trauma-informed-design-topromote-healing/>

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

CATALYST

15 00

POLICY

1500S - “THE GOLDEN AGE OF THE ROD”

17 00

16 00

TAUGHT THAT IT WAS WOMENS SACRED DUTY TO OBEY THE MAN OF THE HOUSE.

1848 - “MOVEMENT FOR BRITISH WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE”

1782 - “RULE OF THUMB”

LED BY BARBARA BODICHON AND BESSIE RAYNER PARKES, CAMPAIGNED FOR IMPROVED FEMALE RIGHTS IN LAW AND MARRIAGE.

1850’S - “THE CODE OF HAMMURABI”

ESTABLISHED BY SIR FRANCIS BULLER, MEANING A HUSBAND COULD BEAT HIS WIFE WITH A STICK NO THICKER THAN HIS THUMB.

DECREED THAT A WIFE WAS SUBSERVIENT TO HER HUSBAND AND THAT HE COULD INFLICT PUNISHMENT ON ANY MEMBER OF HIS HOUSEHOLD FOR ANY TRANSGRESSION.

1862 - “FRANCES POWER COBBE, JOURNALIST”

WRITES ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE FOR FRASERS MAGAZINE: “WHERE WOMAN IS FIRST THE SLAVE OF HER OWN WEAKNESS, AND THEN INEVITABLY THE SLAVE OF MAN.”

1878 - “MATRIMONIAL CAUSES ACT OF 1878”

1895 - DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RESTRICTED TO ONLY BE IN DAY

GAVE THE WIFE FREEDOM TO SEPARATE FROM THEIR HUSBAND DUE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE.

BETWEEN THE HOURS OF 7:00 AM TO 10:00 PM, DUE TO THE NOISE OF WIFE-BEATING LEADING TO TOO MANY COMPLAINTS IN LONDON.

1968 - “MILK MARCH”

WOMEN’S AID PROTESTED AGAINST THE REMOVAL OF MILK, THIS LED TO THE GROUP REQUIRING A HOUSE FOR MEETINGS NO PRINTED RECORDS THAT ASSOCIATE WITH THE TERM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE UNTIL THE NOTION WAS CASTIGATED BY FEMINISITS.

1970 - FEMINISTS USE THE TERM DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

1971 - “REFUGE”

OPENED THE WORLD’S FIRST SAFE HOUSE FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN ESCAPING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE IN CHISWICK, WEST LONDON.

1973 - “DOMESTIC VIOLENCE”

THE TERM FIRST USED IN AN ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT BY JACK ASHLEY.

1974 - “WOMEN’S AID FEDERATION”

SET UP TO PROVIDE PRACTICAL AND EMOTIONAL SUPPORT AS PART OF THE DIFFERENT SERVICES AVAILABLE TO WOMEN AND CHILDREN EXPERIENCING VIOLENCE.

1976 - “DOMESTIC VIOLENCE & MATRIMONIAL PROCEEDINGS ACT”

MARRIED WOMEN TO ACCESS COURT ORDER TO PREVENT VIOLENCE AND HAVE THE RIGHT TO STAY AT HOME WITHOUT THE ABUSER.

1977 - “RECLAIM THE NIGHT”

MARCHES TOOK PLACE ACROSS ENGLAND UNTIL THE 90’S FOR FREEDOM FOR WOMEN IN PUBLIC SPACE.

REFERS TO PERSONS WHO ARE HOMELESS OR THREATENED WITH HOMELESSNESS WHICH HELPED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS WITH RE-HOUSING.

1986 - “VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN”

19 80

1977 - “HOUSING (HOMELESS PERSONS) ACT”

MADE IT CLEAR THAT IT WAS OBLIGATORY FOR THE POLICE TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN AT DOMESTIC DEPUTES.

1992 - “HOME OFFICE CIRCULAR 60/1990”

19 90

DECLARED DOMESTIC VIOLENCE TO BE A CRIME.

HOW TO DEAL WITH DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CASES EVEN IF A VICTIM WITHDRAWS THE REQUEST FOR PROSECUTION AS A RESULT OF INTIMIDATION OR FEAR BY THE ABUSER.

1993 - “CROWN PROSECUTION SERVICE GUIDE”

1996 - “PART IV OF THE FAMILY LAW ACT”

IMPROVED PROTECTIVE ORDERS AVAILABLE TO DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS UNDER THE CIVIL LAW.

2005 - “DOMESTIC VIOLENCE CRIME AND VICTIMS ACT”

TO INCREASE SAFETY OF DV VICTIMS, PROVIDING POLICE WITH POWER TO APPROACH DV.

2020 - “COVID 19 LOCKDOWN INCREASES DV”

18.

2021 - “DOMESTIC ABUSE ACT”

DEFINES DOMESTIC ABUSE AND GIVES GREATER ACCOUNTABILITY TO PROTECT DOMESTIC ABUSE VICTIMS AND GIVES PRIORITY CONCERNING ACCOMMODATION.

Figure 6. timeline of policy informing the domestic abuse act and catalysts for policy.

SPIKES SEEN IN DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS A RESULT OF NATIONAL LOCKDOWNS AND HOMEWORKING INCREASING.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

domestic abuse act: a newborn policy. In order to assess the potential impact of the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act in accommodating the survivor, a consideration of the progress of previous policies regarding domestic abuse is needed to provide the required context. It is in understanding the brief history of this newborn policy alongside the parallel development of the domestic abuse refuge shelter, that the necessary amendments to the Act become clear for developing a supportive architectural response. Architecture as a response to domestic abuse within the UK was initiated in the 1970’s in the borough of Chiswick, West London.27 It was during the 1968 ‘Milk March’ that the society Women’s Aid outgrew their standard method of meeting and decided to acquire a property for gathering and meeting purposes.28 It was at one of these meetings in Chiswick that the conversation turned to the subject of members of the group experiencing domestic abuse and as a result, the house became a refuge with a large demand. This demand quickly led to other properties being acquired for the purpose of becoming refuge shelters for women. Although policy surrounding the subject of violence or financial abuse within domestic relationships predates the 1971 Chiswick house, the tie between architecture as a response mechanism truly began at this point. During the 1970’s, much of the legal status around domestic violence transitioned to being largely influenced by Women’s Aid and subsequent feminist campaigns.29 In 1977, the Housing (Homeless Persons) Act acted as the first inclusive policy that incorporated a spatial response to those leaving their home as a result of domestic abuse through the provision of social housing to anyone made homeless due to abuse.30 The 2005 Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act gave police power to intervene in the home where violence occurred; however, it was found that it was difficult for police to identify domestic abuse and even harder to form a case for prosecution.31 Clearly, policy has responded to the activists’ cries, but the implementation of policing and housing has, up until the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act, still remained very much stationary. Policing domestic abuse has progressed little in practice due to a combination of factors concerning social engagement with domestic abuse. Cases of domestic abuse remain hidden within the home, with bystanders or neighbours in the surrounding environment often reluctant to intervene due to the domestic sphere still being culturally perceived as a private affair. As one interviewee shared: ‘When the police questioned the neighbours on if they heard anything taking place, they said they hadn’t heard a thing… I don’t understand how this is possible, we lived in a block of flats and I shouted on numerous occasions as loud as I possibly could.’32 Domestic abuse within the UK, although considered reprehensible and even loathsome, is still perceived as ‘private’ and therefore not to be intervened with by anyone outside of the home’s four walls.33 As Oscar Newman encountered in one of his social experiments when playing a record of an abusive argument outside neighbours’ flats, instead of intervening, neighbours would bolt their doors, then put on the second lock, and when the argument was played at even higher volume, some residents would turn on their televisions to drown out the noise.34 Again, seeing little support from neighbourhoods during domestic abuse, one interviewee who was eventually aided by a neighbour stated: ‘They didn’t help to be helpful, but would help so they could have some peace and quiet.’35 In addition to these complications, police have received minimal training on how to handle

27. Refuge, ‘Our History’ < https:// www.refuge.org.uk/our-story/ourhistory/> 28. The opening of the first refuge (1971) Aug 2017 < https://womenslegallandmarks. com/2017/08/08/first-womensrefuge-opens-1971/> 28. Womens Aid Federation – set up to provide practical support and emotional support. <https:// www.womensaid.org.uk/about-us/ history/> 30. 1977 Housing Homeless Persons Act 31. (The 2005 Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act addresses the obligations a police officer has in informing the ‘aggrieved person’ of their rights, however gives no guidance or training into the method of approaching domestic violence.) Central Government Act, The Protection of women from domestic violence act, 2005, pt 5 a-e. 32. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, SD, January 2022 33. Imogen Parker, ‘A link in the chain’, August 2015, p.33, <https:// www.citizensadvice.org.uk/ Global/CitizensAdvice/Crime%20 and%20Justice%20Publications/ Linkinthechain.pdf> 34. Defensible Space by Oscar Newman feat. Aylesbury Estate and Pruitt-Igoe, <https://www.youtube. com/watch?v=9OMH7N_6nCE> 35. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, SD, January 2022

19.

20.

part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture. Domestic Abuse Shelters England, Scotland + Wales 1:25000

ABERDEEN

GLASGOW

EDINBURGH

DOMESTIC ABUSE SHELTERS

NEWCASTLE

1971:FIRST SAFE HOUSE OPENED 1973:DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AS A TERM WAS FIRST USED BY JACK ASHLEY

SCARBOROUGH

1977:RECLAIM THE NIGHT MARCHES TOOK PLACE

BLACKPOOL

LIVERPOOL GRIMSBY

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ABERYSTWYTH NORWICH

PEMBROKESHIRE

IPSWICH

CARDIFF LONDON

BARNSTAPLE

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WEYMOUTH

FALMOUTH

- data source -

Location of Shelters provided by ‘Womens Aid’ charity Please note that shelters without a ‘google maps’ set location have been removed from the list in order to remain confidentiality of the shelter

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Figure 7. domestic abuse shelters willing to share location data source: location of shelters ‘womens aid’ charity

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domestic abuse act.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

matters of domestic abuse, resulting in common perceptions of domestic abuse cases as ‘marginal to the tasks of ‘real’ police work.’36 A similar lack of training undergone by local authorities is displayed in the experience of a survivor who was approached by a social worker when her abuser was still present: ‘someone came out but we convinced her nothing was wrong so they never came back again. They saw us both together in the house so I couldn’t say anything.’37 These uninformed approaches and reticent attitudes towards domestic abuse have limited intervention in the home despite policy making provision for it; often the abused might not reach out for help due to the fear of judgement by the community, the fear of being found out by the abuser, or the fear of seeing their loved one taken away. As a result, although policy has, over time, changed and developed on a regular basis, the state of the abuser, the abused and the abuse have remained very much the same. Coinciding with the development of policy, refuge shelters have formed a significant response to domestic abuse, but have been hindered in their ability to provide adequate support. The shelters that rapidly spread across the country in the 1970’s would be filled with mostly mothers and their children. [fig. 7] When speaking with author Jan Pahl on the subject, she noted ‘children would often be the reason the abuse started, with the husband jealous of the affection given to child, but it would also be the reason for escape, as although the woman could endure the abuse she received, she could not endure the process of seeing it happen to or affecting the life of their child.’38 However, children would also be a reason not to leave, due to concerns over the refuges available. Even when refuges were first made available, ‘the condition of refuges was well below that of average family accommodation’ with many needing to be ‘demolished or closed on health grounds.’39 Even today, the inbuilt system of refuge shelters are a cause for concern due to the disruption of relocating to hidden accommodation, removal from schooling and sharing a house with unfamiliar people; all this presenting obstacles to the survivor who often is trying their best to provide a sense of normality in the lives of their children. ‘My aim in life was to keep their life normal… I didn’t let them see how I was feeling, most of the time.’40 Thus, although the positive development of temporary shelters has seen many abused escaping from their abuser, the state of the long-term home of the survivor post-abuse has, however, remained unchanged since before the implementation of policy in 1977. Still today, little or no attention has been given to the process of recovery from domestic abuse in connection to the surroundings and environment of permanent accommodation. The refuge shelter for many provides a place of safety away from the abuser; additionally, it offers an understanding of the scenario and support in providing answers as to why the abuse has happened and what is next for the domestic refugee. Nevertheless, the refuge is established as a short-term support, with one study of 128 women living in refuges revealing that ‘most women felt that a stay of two months was ideal, with six months the absolute maximum. However, because of the difficulty of finding permanent accommodation, women were having to stay on average five and a half months, with 30 percent staying longer than that – in many cases over a year.’41 With the provision of shelters developed in tangent with policy, and even instigating the policy surrounding domestic abuse that is seen today, it seems unfitting that policy for longterm accommodation has progressed so little since the first shelter in 1971. Shelters have paved much of the way in understanding the initial qualities of how space can help aid recovery, but policy, with a focus on the legal interventions required, has altogether neglected the need for designing long-term homes of recovery. This has resulted in not just a lack of homes fit

36. Tony Faragher, ‘The police response to violence against women in the home’, Private Violence and Public Policy, Edt. Jan Pahl (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985) 120 37. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, CC, January 2022 38. Interview with Professor Jan Pahl, February 2022 39. Val Binney, Gina Harkell, Judy Nixon, Private Violence and Public Policy, Edt. Jan Pahl (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985) 170. 40. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, CC, January 2022 41. Val Binney, Gina Harkell, Judy Nixon, Private Violence and Public Policy, Edt. Jan Pahl (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985) 172.

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

Figure 8. refuge shelter experiencing overcrowing, 1970 photograph by julian neiman Figure 9. refuge shelter experiencing overcrowing, 2017 russ o’reilly, mirror photo, photogragh, january 5, 2018

domestic abuse act.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

for recovery for the survivor, but also the overcrowding of existing shelters causing the shelter to partake in a role that it was not designed to do – to provide long-term accommodation aid.42 In light of this, the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act has aimed to change the outcome of the support provided by the long-term home. This aim was first seen within the June 2017 Queen’s speech during the state opening of Parliament when she stated: ‘Legislations will be brought forward to protect the victims of domestic violence and abuse.’43 In April 2021, the act was signed into law. Creating a statutory definition of domestic abuse, and emphasising it not just as physical abuse, the Act gives greater accountability to protect domestic abuse survivors and, most significantly, provides them with priority concerning accommodation.44 Through interviews with survivors, however, it is clear that the Act, although designed to support the domestic refugee, is having little impact on rehousing due to either lack of recognition of social housing as a viable option, or the survivor acknowledging that the available housing is insufficient for themselves or the needs of their children. This insufficiency correlates with the reasons that many abused women do not make use of the existing refuge shelters: often due to the health of a child, the lack of disability design intent in the building, overcrowding in the existing shelter, or the location being too far away from a place of employment or school, meaning the abused fears losing their job or making the life of their child more difficult [fig. 9].45 On one hand, some interviews have highlighted that the Act is to some degree fulfilling its purpose in rehousing, with one survivor stating: ‘I was rehoused from private rented accommodation to a housing association. My property is beautiful and I couldn’t have asked for better.’46 Another survivor states: ‘Myself and my son got moved to a lovely flat. The close that we live on is mostly elderly people, I think we were put here deliberately because we had had such a horrible time.’47 However, these positive experiences of being rehomed into social housing are in the minority. In fact, the overruling situation of social housing leaves many survivors feeling that in reality they have nowhere to go. The Domestic Abuse Act has been established to provide greater authority in supporting survivors, but being a newborn policy it is clear that there is still much to question when it comes to its consideration of spatial needs. Currently, the lack of any sort of spatial criteria in the policy disregards a need to consider social housing on a comprehensive level according to the pros and cons of its qualities in aiding and rehoming survivors of abuse. It is important that the qualities of social housing itself should be considered on a more comprehensive level to ascertain to what extent they will contribute successfully to the recovery of the survivor, delay it, or in fact enhance the trauma experienced in past abuse. Although the Act aims to attain a level of accommodation-based support, the available social housing, with its poor living conditions, is often perceived as equally frightening in comparison with the physical and emotional pain that the survivor already endures, affecting their ability to consider removing themselves from the abuse. Ultimately, the latest 2021 Domestic Abuse Act is not achieving the progress or effect it might hope to make due to a lack of spatial criteria. In order for the Act to be most effective, as well as to return the critical role of the shelter back to a healthy short-term support, it is crucial that accommodation is assessed according to a criteria pre-established and suited to the abuse survivor. Overall, the overwhelming need for this consideration highlights the implicit link that architecture has with the process of recovery for the survivor.

42. ‘Womens shelters overcrowded; Dozens of domestic abuse victims sheltered in hotels,’ NL Times, October 2019 <nltimes. nl/2019/10/04/womens’sheltersovercrowded> 43. The Queens Speech, The State Opening of Parliament 2017 , <www. parliament.uk/stateopening> 44. See Part 4 ‘Local Authority Support’, section 57 of the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 (c.17) 45. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, CC, January 2022 46. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, SS, January 2022 47. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, KM, January 2022

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

Figure 10. typical terraced social housing typology Figure 11. typical low-rise social housing typology Figure 12. typical high-rise social housing typology

domestic abuse act.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

social housing Social housing has often become a national response to the UK’s housing problems, however, being initially established for an alterior purpose, social housing ought to be examined in terms of its suitability as a response to postdomestic abuse. In the early 1900’s, council homes were established for the working class family, designed using company towns, also known as model villages, as the dominant precedent.48 These company towns were designed with the working class nuclear family in mind, and as a consequence, the council estate followed such a structure, often with a pitched roof, garage, and gardens.49 However, this is rarely the council housing we see today. As a result of the 1980’s Right-To-Buy scheme privatising much of the earlier affluent, steady, working-class focused social housing, the council housing we tend to see today can be split into three typologies: the terraced, the low-rise and the high-rise [fig. 10-12].Built as a result of the ‘massive re-development schemes of the 1960’s’ they have been described by John Boughton in his ‘Municipal Dreams’ as ‘by definition, unremarkable’, stating ‘in general, the desire to build cheaply at affordable rents and at scale precluded grander architectural designs.’50 Catering for the less well-off, the 1973 National Rent Rebate Scheme made these ‘unremarkable’ homes affordable for the precariously employed worker. As a result, a modern viewing perceives the social house increasingly as, ‘welfarisation - a conception of social housing as a very small, highly residualised sector catering only for the very poorest, and those with additional social “vulnerabilities”, on a short-term “ambulance” basis’.51 In other words, the social housing of today is seen as low-cost living, left in a post-war era for financially vulnerable people.

48. The Historic England Blog, From Factory to Fireside: 6 Marvellous Model Villages, Aug 2017 < https:// heritagecalling.com/2017/08/31/ from-factory-to-fireside-6marvellous-model-villages/> 49. Michael Young and Peter Willmott, Family and Kinship in East London, (Middlesex, Penguin Books 1957) 50. John Boughton, Municipal Dreams : The Rise and Fall of Council Housing (Verson, 2018) pg 31. 51. Ibid., 143

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

cycle of wealth accumulation

Arendt’s Cycle of Accumulation

social housing for public care

Proposed Cycle of Abuse Response

Figure 13. cycle of accumulation described by arendt in the human condition - 255. Figure 14. cycle of social housings proposed priority, separate from the conversation of wealth accumulation.

domestic abuse act.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

socio-economic context With the current plans set to use social housing as the only form of longterm shelter for the domestic refugee post-abuse, and social housing perceived as a sector catering only for the poor, it becomes apparent that a perception shift is required in order to understand the benefits of councilowned property. Expanding on the existing 2021 Domestic Abuse Act that proposes the use of social housing for rehoming the abuse refugee, the lack of spatial inclusion for support within the Act exposes a weakness when it comes to achieving a sufficient architectural response. Nevertheless, through galvanising a perception shift towards the use of social housing, a unique viewpoint is created that offers a forgotten social typology. The remnants of social housing remaining as council-owned housing have been kept separate from the conversation of the house as capital. Therefore, in keeping with Arendt’s argument regarding the modern age being defined through the cycle of wealth accumulation, social housing is in a unique position to offer a customisation to the home that is not concerned with financial repercussions.52 Social housing is still very much aware of the costs of these modifications, maybe even more so than the privately-owned house, but the national scale on which these amendments to the home would be made display greater concern for the dweller than the longevity of the house’s capital. [fig. 13-14] In the ‘Human Condition’, Arendt argues that the change in ‘wealth accumulation’ is the marking token of the modern age. No longer does accumulation come to an end with the ‘satisfaction of wants and desires’; instead wealth is fed back into the system to generate greater property.53 Respectively, the architectural toposcope to the modern age is seen in the late 70’s and early 80’s in the privatisation of social housing.54 This privatisation has made the home no longer ‘social’ as in a ‘socialist ideal’, where houses function as a living space, but instead the house has arguably become a vehicle of accumulation.55 Triggered by the ‘financial-sector deregulation’ where commercial banks become the main lenders to the mortgage market, the house becomes a prominent form of capital within the UK where today ‘mortgage loans collateralised against property are the main source of money supply in Britain.’56 Additionally, the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme has transformed social housing from an initiative of providing houses for the working class, into one of the greatest distributors of national wealth, worth ‘an estimated £22 billion in 1997.’57 Ultimately, private council housing has become no longer a home, but an economic transaction. With just under 75% of social housing entered into the cycle of privatised property, the few remaining ‘social’ homes house those who cannot enter into this conversation of housing as capital.58 Separated from the strain of finance, social housing now stands uniquely at a point where ‘purpose’ matters. If social housing remains as one of the few survivors of the property as a home, then the design of such a home can be considered by only its purpose, and not its position within the cycle of accumulation described by Arendt. It therefore seems apt to question, what is the purpose of today’s social house, and what can it become, having made this purpose clear?

52. Hannah Arendt, The Human Condition (London: The University of Chicago Press, 1958), 255. 53. Ibid. 54. The story of social housing, Shelter, <https://england.shelter.org. uk/support_us/campaigns/story_of_ social_housing> 55. Pier Vittoria Aureli and Maira Sheherazade Giudici, Familiar Horror: Toward a Critique of Domestic Space, in Log, no.38 (2016), 127. 56. Laurie Macfarlane, The Unmaking of Britain’s Working Class, Dec 2019, <https://tribunemag. co.uk/2019/12/the-unmaking-ofbritains-working-class> 57. John Boughton, Municipal Dreams : The Rise and Fall of Council Housing (Verson, 2018), 97. 58. Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century (Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2014), 213.

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

Figure 15. interview with social housing tenant, paul, 2021 Figure 16. interview with social housing tenant, steve, 2021

domestic abuse act.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

security of the tenancy When speaking with tenants of social housing, both those who have experienced domestic abuse and those who have not, the reoccurring benefit most referred to was the security of the tenancy. One interviewee who had always been in the privately owned sector stated that after her marriage breakdown she was renting privately, ‘but the landlords kept increasing the rent and I couldn’t afford it anymore, so I had to leave.’59 Another stated, ‘For me the security is the most important thing, because I’ve got an assured tenancy, I’ve got a tenancy for life, so for me that’s the security I required that is like paying a mortgage. In private rental I was kicked out, I offered to buy it but he declined my offer.’60 The security of the tenancy became an apparent way in which the occupant felt that the council was taking care of them; there was a level of safety embedded within the system that meant that they had the perception of ownership without actually owning the property. On the other hand, private rentals were said to cause a constant anxiety, ‘In the back of the mind you always know it’s a potential that the guy could sell the property at any point.’61 Therefore, although architecturally the remnants of social housing may be ‘unremarkable’, the system in which they are placed reduces financial concerns and anxiety within the home. For the abuse survivor, although the content requires attention, the context is ably designed to support the process of recovery.

59. Interview with JA, social housing tenant and domestic abuse survivor, October 2021 60. Interview with PL, social housing tenant, October 2021 61. Interview with PL, social housing tenant, October 2021

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

Figure 17. interview with social housing tenant, jude, 2021

domestic abuse act.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

adapting social housing With this in mind, the Domestic Abuse Act ought to explore the possibility for adapting the content of the social house within the setting of the tenancy. Interviews with survivors have both exposed triggers within the fabric of the domestic space as well as suggested possibilities for spaces of recovery. The main issue that architecture facilitates within post-abuse housing and which delays the recovery of the survivor, is how various fragments of the home have become a trigger space. The home, for the survivor prior to the move, has been a weapon in the pain they have experienced. It is not a safe place, a comfort or a haven. Therefore, notwithstanding the process of re-housing to an unfamiliar location and neighbourhood, and although separated from the abuser, the home cannot expect to be separated from the embedded anxiety that has persisted for so long. Social housing as a response offers conditions that vary according to the typology of the home, and at times offer benefits for recovery, yet, with so many triggering features embedded within social housing, the existing state of response can decelerate or even altogether prevent a complete restoration of health. The benefits of social housing currently lie more in their socio-economic and legal context, rather than their architectural qualities.

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8 4 5

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[1] locked in [2] forced against the wall [3] punched holes in the walls [4] jammed my arms in the doors [5] threw plates at my head [6] would have to clean the house after him [7] butterfly knife held to my throat [8] sit and watch for him to come back [9] wasn’t allowed friends over

Figure 18. spatial reconstruction of interviewees experience of domestic abuse and the role architecture has played, js, november 2021.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

the house and the survivor the house as a weapon Domestic abuse when spatially defined engages with how the home has been mishandled in order to form a tool of violence. Although the house that experiences domestic abuse varies in typology, market value and social class, the principles of how selected fragments of architecture have become weaponised remains consistent. Interviews with abuse survivors that took place as part of the research for this thesis reveal the role that the home has played in abuse, and the similarities that arise despite differing relationships. These conversations have explicitly revealed how architecture has been used as a tool for harm within personal occurrences to an extent that is disquieting. For this reason, highlighting extracts from interview conversations as they have been spoken summarises the frequency of architecture in abuse and the weapon it embodies in the process. This body of research that correlates architecture and domestic abuse has further been discussed with author and domestic abuse researcher, Professor Jan Pahl, who noted that this thesis is in line with the findings she has addressed when writing on financial restraints within domestic abuse. The house as a weapon focuses on ways in which architecture is used to inflict harm. It is not suggestive that architecture is a reason for harm, but instead through forensic analysis, it can be concluded that the acts of crime that have taken place identify architectural patterns within domestic abuse. Interviews took place through a range of mediums including social media, emails, zoom calls and in-person discussions. Most interviews were UK-based, however, some survivors were residing in America or the Bahamas, aiding recognition of universal patterns of abuse. Survivors in Scotland and England lived in varying housing typologies ranging from a two bedroom flat to a detached house. Some survivors had a number of children whereas others were without children completely. Furthermore, some survivors were young and had been in the relationship for a short period of time (less than two years), whilst others were older having lived with the perpetrator of abuse for up to 30 years. Recognising the diversity of the interviews’ demographic clarifies that the role of architecture in methods of abuse is not limited to a particular category of abuser. The outcome of the interviews clearly show that the use of architecture as a weapon can be best understood by assessing how these spaces and their objects have been used according to personal accounts of domestic abuse.

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

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Figures 19-26. spatial reconstruction of interviewees experience of domestic abuse and the role architecture has played, js, november 2021.

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

the perimeter

‘He locked me in the house, I didn’t have any keys and he took my bank card. I couldn’t call my work as my phone had died and I didn’t have any money to get there. He had also thrown a watch and the box at my head the previous night so I had a black eye… I couldn’t leave the house and because I had no phone to call my work, they fired me.’ - Interview with JS November 2021 ‘I wasn’t allowed to speak to my friends or go out with them… I wasn’t allowed to have friends over, plus as it got worse, I didn’t want my friends seeing me like that…’ - Interview with JS November 2021 ‘I had no way of contact so I decided to travel across London at 4am in the morning to knock on his door just so he could speak to me but he refused to come out so I slept outside his house crying and begging’ - Interview with MK October 2021 ‘At some point I managed to run to my window and opened it and jumped out (there was scaffolding outside) he tried to drag me back through the window but I managed to get away and I ran all the way down the scaffolding and back through my living room window below my bedroom, he was already standing there in the living room door way and said you ain’t leaving, and dragged me back upstairs and kept me locked in my bedroom for 4 hours I sat and for 4 hours shaking in fear crying.’ - Interview with MK October 2021 ‘He would trap me in the kitchen somewhere so I couldn’t escape so my son ran out to a neighbours to call the police because I couldn’t get out’ - Interview with CC January 2022 ‘After the police got involved, he did everything he could without hitting me, a lot of the time he wouldn’t let my family come in the house, didn’t want me having friends. That was a big factor throughout, he didn’t want me seeing anybody. I was having a cup of tea with a neighbour once and he knocked on the door and told me to get home because he wasn’t a baby sitter looking after the children, I’d been there an hour and I should be at home. He always wanted me to be at home, he didn’t want me to go out with friends, he hated my friends or family coming to visit me, so eventually bit by bit, I got cut off from all friends and family’ - Interview with CC January 2022 A common occurrence of domestic abuse is the control over who is able to enter and who is able to leave the home. The home is often used as a prison cell: the physical lock is used to restrict access to the abused, narrowing their ability to either leave the house, enter the house, or to allow a support network to enter into the home. Furthermore, visible damage to the abused is a method to prevent the standard flow into and out of the building, using shame as a controlling method. The abused often does not want their domesticated affairs broadcasted, and this would often result in the abused hiding away when physical bruising or scarring is visible. This process of containment also allows the abuser to further manipulate the abused by hammering home the perception that the perpetrator of violence is innocent

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Figure 27. technical analysis of the balustrade as a weapon in one interviewees account, sd, january 2022.

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the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

and the abused has wrongly understood the circumstances that have taken place and is actually the cause of the abuse. The abused, having no external perspective due to isolation from friends and family and social media being made inaccessible, adopts this unjust viewpoint. With the separation from all known support, a gradual process of dependence on the abuser occurs, making the abused feel a sense of complete reliance on their partner despite the violent or manipulative acts occurring. Furthermore, the perimeter is also used to deny escape for the abused, lengthening the time of abuse and the time spent with the abuser; this time is then often used by the abuser to repent of their wrongs and seek forgiveness.

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

Figure 28. the kitchen counter used to cut open the back, speaks one interviewee, sd, january 2022.

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

the wall ‘He had me up against walls multiple times he used to punch walls and doors and I would have to fix it because it was my fault as he said’ - Interview with JS November 2021 Multiple interviews describe the abused being held up to the wall against their will, being forced into the wall or thrown against the wall with great force. The wall becomes a backdrop aiding the exertions of the abuser. The partition wall will be a constant reminder of abuse within the domestic space, by bearing the marks of physical damage and emotional abuse: sweat and blood stains, holes and cracks from attacks and patches of polyfiller where repairs have been attempted. The use of the wall can quickly develop into psychological abuse; through the abuser blaming the abused for the outburst of actions, the wall becomes a job for the abused to repair.

the corner ‘I don’t know what had happened – an argument kitchen and he grabbed a knife’ - Interview with CL January 2022

and he got me into the corner of the

Acting as a cage, the corner traps the survivor on both sides, causing reduced opportunity for escape.

the floor ‘he’d make he’d always like get me get me down somewhere so you know you’re pinned somewhere he always did that okay, he’d pin you on the floor quite a lot? Yeah Well yeah he’d like get you down but then if he started hitting you you were in a position where you couldn’t get up’ - Interview with CC January 2022 ‘—at this moment he kicked me to the floor and started kicking and punching me all over the room every time I tried to get up from the floor I was being kicked back down again and being dragged by the hair’ - Interview with MK October 2021 ‘You mentioned carpet as something more of a softer landing that felt a bit safer? Yeah but carpet can still bloody hurt and burns and …that still hurts That’s what I was thinking, were carpet burns ever a part of your experience? Yeah that still hurts’ - Interview with SD January 2022 Much like the use of the wall, the floor again is used as a backdrop to the violence perpetrated. Although seemingly innocent, the floor is often lavished in hard surfaces or high friction coatings. Often used to aid the abuser restraining the movement of the survivor, the floor is often the intersection between the abuser and broken bones or burnt skin.

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

Figure 29. the heater used to burn my hand, speaks one interviewee, cc, january 2022.

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

the door ‘he had jammed my arms in doors to the point I thought my arm was going to break’ - Interview with JS November 21 ‘my ex-husband used the property as part of psychological abuse… he would shut the door when I was in a room, taking our son with him, the message being ‘we’re shutting you out, leaving you behind etc’ - Interview with SE February 22 The door can either be used as a guillotine, used to trap limbs, or as a barrier, preventing access for the survivor. Both uses of the door cause a form of separation: either through physical violence to disconnect limb from body, or else to separate the abused through emotional means, denying access when desired or required.

the bathroom ‘I needed to go to the toilet and he said I’m not allowed He let me go toilet only if he was to come with me to make sure I don’t escape again so he stood in the bathroom with me watching me’ - Interview with MK October 2021 The bathroom is denied of its function as a space of privacy by the abuser. Demoralising to the survivor, this form of abuse denies access to a fundamental human right. In certain cases, the bathroom is used as a place of retreat from the abuser, often being the only room within the home with an internal lock, the bathroom plays a key role in maintaining competency. When this architectural space is denied, or even invaded by the abuser, the home becomes a place with nowhere to hide.

the kitchen ‘once he really really shoved me in the kitchen and … the corner plinth cabinets went right into my back and cut all my back’ [fig. 28]

on the old

‘the kitchen is a lot of my memories are things in the kitchen cos like in the living room you tend to be more relaxed and you’re watching TV but the kitchen tends to be the hub of the home and that’s when you’re talking more and doing more and yeah there’s just more going on you tend to sort of open bills in the kitchen you sort of stand there and do you know what I mean? but yeah the kitchen a lot went on in the kitchen it was just everything I did was wrong and and I didn’t like him being in the kitchen’ ‘these hot taps have even got flexible hoses you could splash somebody even more if you wanted to hurt them – they’re washing up and that hot tap is nearer to them with boiling water’ - Interview with SD January 2022

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

Figure 30. the balustrade as a weapon in one interviewees account, sd, january 2022.

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

Described as the epicentre of abuse, the kitchen often plays a large role in triggering times of abuse. Often lacking in distractions such as a TV or place to relax, alongside the association the room has with gender roles and the expectation the abuser places on the survivor to fulfil these roles, results in the kitchen commonly supporting the provocation of the abuser. Moreover,, the kitchen also houses the largest array of weapons within the home, from sharp cutlery to hot stoves; the kitchen offers little escape, often with only one access route available.

the staircase ‘the other dangerous area is the stairs and when I go round to people’s houses now… like I’ve got carpet at the bottom of my stairs but it’s all the thing to have tiled flooring in the hallway and I’m thinking oh no that’s dangerous at the bottom of stairs, no’ ‘I did break a rib once yeah and that actually was on the banisters I was leant over them and dangled’ - Interview with SD January 2022 [fig. 30] One interviewee referencing the staircase as an area to be avoided highlights the level of danger a fall from a single storey staircase can cause. Often constructed with hard surface materials, the staircase can quickly transition into an object of fear with such a high level of threat associated with it.

the window ‘I tried to open my window I needed air I felt claustrophobic I tried to open the window and he closed it straight away but onto my fingers i screamed in agony, he said what you get for trying to escape again’ - Interview with MK October 2021 ‘if I cooked dinner he threw it away and I had to eat mine sitting in a coat with all the windows and doors open … I ate in the cold’ - Interview with NT January 2022 Although playing a key role in the process of escape, the window is also used as a tool to contain, much like that of the perimeter wall. Nevertheless, the window additionally has become a weapon through environmental abuse. As one interviewee recounts, the window could be left open, forcing the survivor to be cold within her own house. Although not as violent a form of abuse, this simple action transforms the perspective and level of comfort that the survivors experiences within their own home.

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part 1: domestic abuse and its relationship to architecture.

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URBAN RESPONSE TO DOMESTIC ABUSE PRIMARY SCHOOL

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Figure 31. using the house as a means to escape, interview, mk, october 2021.

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

the house as a means of escape Although the house may be used as a weapon as evidenced by numerous interviews with survivors of domestic abuse, the interviews have also highlighted the significant role that architecture plays in the process of escape from abuse. With events of abuse demarcated by the perimeter walls of the property, the surrounding social set-up plays a significant role in providing momentary safety in order to escape abuse. The role of the neighbour, the stranger, the school and the family all form crucial characters in the initial stage-set for recovery. Many of the survivors spoken to have only been able to escape from abuse due to the temporary support from these members of the community, and despite community involvement only taking place as brief encounters, the support the community is able to provide can largely be hindered or aided through architectural planning. The book ‘Community and Privacy’ acted as a guide to many architects of the 1970’s during the ‘massive re-development scheme’ influencing architects such as Neave Brown.62 In this publication, Serge Chermayeff and Christopher Alexander address the subject of designed community crossovers and design seclusion. They state in their concluding remarks: ‘Who and what interferes with what and whom, to what extent, when and how, are significant questions that the urban designer now has to ask himself.’63 The extent to which and the stage at which support is given to the domestically abused survivor will often vary according to the spatial structures that have been provided for by the architect and planner. Many survivors receive support through the process of escape by fleeing to a neighbour’s close by, providing them with immediate protection from the perpetrator of violence. This commonly occurs during the events of physical violence and often results with the neighbour contacting the police in order to make an arrest. One interviewee followed this pattern of events through the use of external scaffolding.

62. John Boughton, Municipal Dreams : The Rise and Fall of Council Housing (Verson, 2018) pg 31. 63. Serge Chermayeff and Christopher Alexander, Community and Privacy (Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1963) pg 251. 64. Interview with MK, domestic abuse survivor, October 2021 65. Interview with CC, domestic abuse survivor, January 2022 66. Ibid. 67. Ibid.

‘After being continually beaten and abused, I escaped out of the second floor apartment by climbing down the scaffolding to a neighbour’s flat.’64 Another interviewee highlighted the significance of architectural planning for the process of escape. Experiencing domestic abuse in both a first floor flat and a terraced house within the courtyard, she speaks of the contrasting support she received with neighbours at both: ‘I lived in a flat, one of the neighbours heard him threatening to throw me out the window because we are on the first floor, and she called child protection people, and someone came out but we convinced her nothing was wrong so they never came back again. They saw us both together in the house so I couldn’t say anything.’65 ‘In the two bedroom terraced house, my son… when he was about five or six, he would hear something going on and he would go running out the house because he would trap me in the kitchen or somewhere so I couldn’t escape. My son would going running out in his pyjamas and knock on a neighbour’s door, and they would call the police because I couldn’t get out.’66 ‘We got a little courtyard…it is more safe because there is always someone nearby, it made me feel safer… I think because they heard more what was going on.’67 It is uncommon today for neighbours to voluntarily intervene when it comes to the domestic space. The periphery wall demarcates the segregated social involvement despite awareness of a neighbour’s life-threatening circumstance. Furthermore, as one survivor highlighted, some neighbours will avoid conflict wherever possible.

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House of Abuse process over a number of years often when children get hurt

Abuser

Community Support

Social Services

School

Neighbours

Family

Stranger

normally a sister or a mum

afraid children will be taken away from them

Police safety

often just calm things down

non-molestation order often makes her feel safer and causes her to return to abuser

Abuse Survivor

Context

children move to new school

a known resort

Private Rented Housing

often no easy transport links

1985 housing act

Family or Friends

Dependent on Local Authorities (DAA Response)

Figure 32. common process from house of abuse to house of safety.

Right to Stay in Own Home

Project Intervention

Social Housing

Shelter/Refuge

government support

Temporary Social Housing

women’s aid charities

Dependent on Finances

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

‘When I reported him to the police this year the police went and spoke to the neighbour but they said they never heard anything which is impossible I was screaming my head off.’68 Best summarised through a comment from an interview with a survivor who had endured domestic abuse for over thirteen years, although the neighbour will aim to keep their affairs separate from the domestic violence occurring in a neighbour’s home, architecture is in fact able to prevent the neighbour from turning a total blind eye by enforcing support for the abused. ‘They (the neighbours) were more involved in ‘we just want some piece and quiet’, but they realised that the noise was me being knocked about, but they didn’t really care, they just wanted it to be quiet, and they realised there was a problem, so the best way for them to get their peace and quiet was to resolve the problem.’69 The house as a tool of escape accentuates the level of consideration needed when approaching architecture in the context of domestic abuse. This is due to ideal housing requirements becoming detrimental to the abused. Noise as one example emphasises the contrast between the home as a sound insulated hub, to the home as a means to scream to a neighbour. The ideal addressed in much of Chermayeff’s and Alexander’s writings focus on the detriments of a noisy neighbourhood and the importance of keeping sound specific to its habitation, when designing for escape in domestic abuse, sound plays a crucial role in supporting the abused. Consequently, it must be considered to what extent should the architect design for the ideal environment in a less than ideal world? When speaking on the subject of the public street, Chermayeff and Alexander state: ‘The street itself is no longer a promenade for friends and neighbours among whom pleasant exchanges can take place, but a service artery carrying dangerous trucks and other high-smelling vehicles with strangers.’70 Applying the same principle to the publicness of the noisy home, by removing noise as the enemy within architecture through well-insulated, acoustically considered homes, are we also to remove the involvement of the neighbour, albeit a reticent neighbour, and by doing so aid the abuser within a domestically abusive home? When it comes to considering the process of escape for the abused, it must therefore be asked: Who and what interferes? With what and whom? To what extent? When and How? In considering post domestic abuse housing, the architect or designer must be aware of the house in the context of abuse and respond with solutions for post-abuse living as a means to alleviate fears when in the home by, as an example, Wremoving potential triggers of not being able to be heard.

68. Interview with JS, domestic abuse survivor, November 2021 69. Interview with SD, domestic abuse survivor, January 2022 70. Serge Chermayeff and Christopher Alexander, Community and Privacy (Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1963) pg 89.

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Figure 33. social housing state of repair in one interviewees home, jg, november 2021

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

the house in delaying recovery After escaping from abuse, where the home has been used as a weapon, where does the survivor go next? One of the questions often raised is why many choose to stay with their abuser despite the trauma they experience.71 In the study ‘Refuges and Housing for Battered Women’, Binney, Harkell and Nixon respond to this very question noting that ‘what is usually overlooked is the extent to which women have been trapped in violent relationships simply because they have had nowhere else to go.’72 Housing has become a deciding factor in the choice of the abused of whether to leave or stay. Despite the support provided by refuge shelters being helpful for so many, these spaces are now seeing, and always have seen, overcrowding, underfunding and centre closures. Although helpful for many, even if the survivor gains access to a refuge shelter, this option offers only a temporary short-term support network. The process of rehousing for the survivor is one of the most concerning issues affecting contemplation of long-term recovery as expressed in one interview: ‘I have got to leave him, and then thinking – how? Do you know what I mean, I haven’t got enough money, it is going to take ages, it then takes ages to sell the house, to then get his agreement, by the time you’ve done that, you start talking, and then he says well I’m really sorry, can we talk…’73 Not alone in the concern of where and how to live when fleeing the abuser, the process of finding ‘any sort of accommodation, let alone accommodation which meets their needs, makes leaving home a gruelling experience.’74 Looking to meet the demand of the domestic refugee, social housing, in accordance with the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act, steps into the conversation. Social housing, also underfunded and lacking in availability, can very often result in delaying the recovery of the abuse survivor or even extend the experienced trauma.75 In light of past policies, the abuse survivor has been offered social housing as a response for 17 years, however access into housing became far reaching due to the length of wait. The 2021 Act aimed to remove this barrier by providing priority into housing for the survivor, nevertheless, this thesis proposes the act will not accomplish what it sets out to do due to the following reasons. The process of rehoming survivors into social housing can become complicated and even demoralising, as displayed in the research of Binney, Harkell and Nixon who found that ‘housing departments frequently told women that there was nothing that could be done.’76 When survivors were asked why they had been refused social housing, it was revealed that ‘deciding that women were ‘not homeless’ was the most common reason given for refusal to rehouse’, with reasons ranging from not having sufficient bruising to prove violence was occurring, not being deemed as homeless due to living in a refuge to being told that they were not considered homeless due to their having left by choice.77 These findings show the inadequacy of the rehoming process and the separation between national policy and local authority enactment.

71. This Inside Housing headline cites one significant reason behind the choice to stay: ‘Fears over housing prevent domestic abuse survivors from leaving perpetrators, survey reveals.’ The article goes on to state that according to a Woman’s Aid survey, over 28% of women had chosen to stay with abusive partners due to housing issues. Lucie Heath, ‘Fears Over Housing,’ Inside Housing, June 11, 2020, https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/ news/news/fears-over-housingprevent-domestic-abuse-survivorsfrom-leaving-perpetrators-surveyreveals--66739 72. Val Binney, Gina Harkell, Judy Nixon, Private Violence and Public Policy, Edt. Jan Pahl (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985) 166. 73. Interview with SD, domestic abuse survivor, January 2022 74. Val Binney, Gina Harkell, Judy Nixon, Private Violence and Public Policy, Edt. Jan Pahl (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985), 166. 75. Social Housing Deficit, Shelter <https://england.shelter.org.uk/ support_us/campaigns/social_ housing_deficit> 76. Val Binney, Gina Harkell, Judy Nixon, Private Violence and Public Policy, Edt. Jan Pahl (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985),166. 77. Val Binney, Gina Harkell, Judy Nixon, Private Violence and Public Policy, Edt. Jan Pahl (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985), 174.

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Further, priority into housing will not support the survivor due to the housing being offered is insufficient for recovery. A focus on the home purely performing as a place of safety for the survivor through a removal from the perpetrator has resulted in inappropriate housing being chosen (or often coercively prescribed). Findings show ‘nearly half of women (domestic abuse survivors) in council property described their housing as poor, but most had felt obliged to accept whatever they were offered in case no other offers were made.’78 In order to understand why the home is described as ‘poor’ quality, multiple factors come into play. The first is to understand what the home means to the abuse survivor, and the second is to consider what the experience of home has been for the abuse survivor and thus the triggers that social housing layouts and material choices can cause. Historically the domestic space has been an incubator for the standards and expectations given to the household. The home has been perceived as the main workplace for many women; roles determined by gender have become central to the sense of self. Despite shifting patterns in recent years around women within the workplace, it is still often assumed that the woman is to now fulfil not only her duties in employment but also many of the historical duties within the home.79 While it is acknowledged that both men and women experience domestic abuse, women are considerably more likely to experience repeated abuse as well as severe forms of abuse.80 Therefore, with much of the survivor’s personal identity shaped by the abuser’s enforcement of gender roles, the home for the survivor can very often form a connection to their personal identity in relation to their sense of purpose and value. Hilary Abrahams summarises this idea, saying: ‘controlling aspects of domestic abuse… often centred around the standards and expectations that their partners had of how the home should be run. Any failure in this direction might well prove to be a trigger for abuse, so that this was even more of a reason to pour time and energy into perfecting their role.’81 This can again be supported through conversations had with survivors when considering the role that architecture has played in their own experience of domestic abuse. ‘I had to do everything in the house he would create mess and just expect me to tidy up as I can’t live like that there would be bag upon bags of rubbish that he would never take out even tho he walks past the bin every morning and night on his way to and from work.’82 ‘I didn’t like him being in the kitchen, it would be like I would sort of go oh I’ll go and cook dinner you read one of your photography magazines or watching the Grand Prix, I don’t want him in there, I want to just be able to get on with it.’83 Therefore, when considering the specific needs of the home for the survivor, and especially those who have been out of employment due to domestic abuse restraints or residing in a shelter for a number of months, the home needs to be able to function according to the embedded sense of purpose that the survivor will often still experience, in order to provide a level of comfort during a time where the survivor is learning to recover control of their own lives.

78. Val Binney, Gina Harkell, Judy Nixon, Private Violence and Public Policy, Edt. Jan Pahl (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985), 177. 79. Hilary Abrahams. Rebuilding Lives after Domestic Violence : Understanding Long-Term Outcomes, (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010), 32. 80. Domestic Abuse is a gendered crime, Womens Aid < https://www. womensaid.org.uk/informationsupport/what-is-domestic-abuse/ domestic-abuse-is-a-genderedcrime/> 81. Hilary Abrahams. Rebuilding Lives after Domestic Violence : Understanding Long-Term Outcomes, (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2010), 32. 82. Interview with JS, domestic abuse survivor, November 2021 83. Interview with SD, domestic abuse survivor, January 2022

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

Secondly, the experience the survivor has undergone during abuse can be largely triggered through architectural features that correlate to the abuse endured. Social housing as a response was not designed with the intent to support a post-traumatic experience, but instead to provide quick and affordable shelters for much of the working-class community. Therefore, it comes as no surprise as to why these homes very often provide opposing conditions to the requirements of survivors. With very little research connecting domestic abuse with architecture, there is a lack of awareness as to the extent of which architecture damages the mental wellbeing of the occupant. In this sense, architectural fragments that make up the home have become associative totems to the survivor. The social house as a collection of these totems therefore delays the stages of recovery by continually flagging up past events and the scarring impact they have had. As previously addressed, social housing in the form of the terraced, low-rise and high-rise is put on trial concerning the features that support recovery and those that inhibit it.

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1 1. open access for all 2. neglected publuc front garden on road side with no security 3. window for anyone to see in and open space with no area of retreat 4. dark space with hard flooring beneath staircase 5. narrow kitchen with no room for escape 6. high fenced garden with little connection to nature

Figure 34. triggers to domestic abuse within typical terraced social housing typologies.

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the terraced. 1. Built on-street, the terraced exhibits an exposed typology with little thresholds for safety. Although sometimes set back behind a front garden with a low brick wall or gate, the terraced front door is easily accessible for the stranger walking by. Especially those built on high footfall streets, the access is often unnoticeable due to the frequency of passer-bys, making access for the abuser or even for strangers highly attainable, frequently resulting in panic and anxiety as to the movement taking place outside. 2. Although not secure, the front garden within the terraced does allow for neighbourhood engagement through unforced meeting spaces. Whether in the process of putting the bins out, doing minor gardening work or just walking into the home, the front garden gives ‘provision for voluntary communality rather than inescapable togetherness.’84 For the survivor, these momentary meetings provide for rebuilding social life as well as developing a safety net in abuse or if abuse was to arise again. 3. With attention given to provide maximum daylight and views, the terraced will likely possess a large ground floor, front window. Although positive for visual access to biophillia, this large window also provides visual access for the street stranger. This results in survivors ‘hiding from the mail-man beneath the window’85 or ‘not willing to come down stairs in a dressing gown in case seen by someone walking by.’86 This becomes particularly frightening at night-time when anyone is able to see in, but the survivor is unable to see out. Additionally, this ground floor window creates an easy access break-in route into the home for the abuser, and although situated often in an undeclared location, still causes anxiety concerning the possibilities of access. 4. The staircase during abuse was often used as a tool of harm and as a result becomes a ‘place to avoid’.87 Additionally, the social house rarely will give consideration to the materiality on and at the bottom of the staircase. Frequently being wood or tiles at the junctions where the stair touches the floor, this would be a cause for concern with the ‘flooring being too hard it would remind of someone making you fall.’88 5. The kitchen was described in conversations as ‘the epicentre of abuse.’89 Without distraction (with no television or entertainment), the kitchen will frequently be an area of high PTSD triggers, containing a large level of damaging artillery. The social terraced house often places this programme into a dark and narrow location with few escape routes, heightening the anxiety within the space. 6. The terraced can often be the only social housing typology with a private garden. Access to green spaces enable positive distraction, a crucial stage within the recovery process which eases PTSD symptoms.90 However, often these spaces can be high-fenced and have little grass area, especially in high-density areas, in cities such as London or Liverpool.

84. Serge Chermayeff and Christopher Alexander, Community and Privacy (Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1963) pg 215. 85. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, CC, January 2022 86. Ibid. 87. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, SD, January 2022 88. Ibid. 89. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, SD, January 2022 90. Roger Ulrich, Effects of interior design on wellness: Theory and recent scientific research (Journal of healthcare interior design, February 1997) 102.

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8 7

6 5 4

3 2 1

1. communal front garden space, too cold to use the majority of the year 2. buzzer for secure access 3. sterile stairways,with large fall heights and hard flooring 4. open plan living/dining room 5. kitchen space with nowhere to escape to 6. balcony space above neighbours shared garden 7. non-accessible garden space 8. insecure public ginnel

Figure 35. triggers to domestic abuse within typical low-rise social housing typologies.

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the low-rise. 1. The public garden in low-rise housing may appear to fulfil the same role of the terraced front garden, enabling voluntary communality, however, for the majority of the year, this land is often too cold for gatherings, too wet for public use or such a shared space that no-one feels able to use it. ‘The bare unused islands of grass serve only the myth of independence.’91 2. The low-rise social housing regularly comes with a secure buzzer access, preventing ease of access for non-residents. This provides an initial layer of safety into the home. Furthermore, with height as a threshold for safety, the resident is able to identify who is outside the home and allows for more time to be able to decide whom to allow into the building. The length of journey from ground floor up to the apartment also allows more time for processing for those with more severe dissociative symptoms linked to PTSD. 3. Stairways often consist of large fall heights and hard surfaces. Allowing for ease of cleaning, these sterile spaces increase the trauma already existing around the stairway by posing the threat of a greater distance to fall, and a hardened external materiality finish. 4. Due to high-density design, the living/dining room will often be open plan, considered as a preferred bright room; however, the open plan is an option that may only increase anxiety, as declared plainly by a survivor: ‘definitely not open plan, there is nowhere to hide away.’92 5. The low-rise social house kitchen, again, previously an epicentre of abuse, is given one exit, with multiple corners to become trapped within. 6. The balcony within the low-rise allows for neighbourhood communication whilst also creating views down to the ground at a scale where the human is still at ‘human scale’, not disconnecting the survivor from the street level, but still using height as a threshold for safety. ‘The balcony is the modern architectural element par excellence... it became the healthgiver (Sanatoriums), mediator between public and private realms...’93 7. Looking down, the balcony often provides access to a private garden, only for use of the ground floor tenant, further utilising height as a threshold for safety with the benefits of biophillia in positive distraction. 8. Often in cities, low-rise social housing will back onto a public ginnel, a space that often provides a hidden access for criminal break-ins, with little public engagement.

91. Serge Chermayeff and Christopher Alexander, Community and Privacy (Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1963), 64. 92. Interview with domestic abuse survivor, SD, January 2022 93. Rem Koolhaas, Elements of Architecture (Koln: Taschen, 2018) 1078.

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2 4

1. untendered public space and very hard surfaces 2. buzzer access for secure access 3. large open space with no neighbours to hear screams 4. completely enclosed kitchen as a place of danger 5. unpleasent balcony space 6. public space on ground floor for moments of support

Figure 36. triggers to domestic abuse within typical high-rise social housing typologies.

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the high-rise 1. Sterile public space in the foyer of the building, used for elevator and step access, this area again uses hard surfaces and is often harshly lit with white strip lights, making the first moments of leaving the apartment bleak and sharp. The safety of these spaces are also put into question as Mark Swenarton points out in Cooks Camden - ‘Families with young children found themselves living in high-rise blocks where young children are kept indoors due to the lack of safe external place where they could stay.’94 2. Again, the high-rise uses buzzer access giving time for the survivor to ascertain and process, providing peace of mind. 3. In the floorplan of this common high-rise typology, the open plan living area is placed externally to the building. Intended to enhance views and lighting into the living area, this also results in secluded acoustic properties, which again, although ideal for the common tenant, gives no neighbourly support if screams were projected. 4. Again, the kitchen is enclosed, giving ease to any abuser to trap the abused, making the space feel even more claustrophobic post-abuse. 5. Although the balcony once again aids community involvement, the height of the high-rise detaches the survivor from ground floor, separating support from ground level and making ‘man sees man at his own scale more and more rarely.’95 6. Public space on ground floor allows for passing by with neighbours to take place, gaining a familiarity with a potential regular support network.

94. Mark Swenarton, Cooks Camden: The Making of Modern Housing (London, Lund Humphries 2017) 17. 95. Serge Chermayeff and Christopher Alexander, Community and Privacy (Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1963) 76.

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Figure 37. social housing high-rise, interview, paul, novemeber 2021.

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

Despite social housing hosting multiple support systems for the survivor, all three typologies are plastered with architectural totems that can delay the recovery of the survivor post-abuse. The domestic space in existing social housing is littered with triggering fragments, hard surfaces and enclosed spaces; therefore, it must be asked, what role can social housing play in postabuse recovery?

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Figure 38. heatherwicks maggie’s cancer care centre, curved glulam beams.

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

the house in enabling recovery Assessing the delay that existing social housing can have on recovery is ultimately futile if architecture does not and cannot fulfil the role of aiding the recovery process for the abuse survivor. This subject correlates back to an age-old question, what is the role of the architect? Robinson highlights an interesting position of the architect through understanding the routes of the word culture and the correlated role of the architect. In her preface to Mallgrave’s From Object to Experience she states: ‘Culture shares the same root as the word “to care” as Mallgrave reminds us further that our fundamental task as architects is to create culture in this most primal sense: to tend, to create, and to arrange the countless variables that make human life and its flourishing possible.’96 This idea of culture as an architectural expression routes back to the Latin cultura, meaning to cultivate the land, to tend it and guard it.97 This original expression of the word quite beautifully reminds the architect of the responsibility they have in designing the home. It is not to create shelter or warmth in its primary reasoning, but to assess the needs surrounding the space that reminds the architect that architecture is not to be understood as a form of wealth accumulation, but instead as an expression and form of care. Health architecture dates back to Egyptian paintings from 27th century BCE.98 Imhotep, the architect who designed the step pyramid, was also royal physician to the Pharaoh of the time and as a result was considered to be a demi-god of both medicine and architecture.99 The Greeks equated Imhotep with the demi-god of healing, Asclepius, to whom they dedicated a sanctuary in Epidauros. Epidauros is considered to be the first site of Western architecture inspired by healing: this thriving medical city consisted of several temples, a round thalos, a race track, baths, hospital beds, altars, gyms and a hotel for men and women who accompanied the ill.100 Furthermore, the writings of thinkers such as Vitruvius inspired medic Bernhard Christoph Faust in the 1800’s to develop a theory titled ‘Sonnenbaulehre’ - a concept that seeks to use the orientation and arrangement of a building in order to create healthy living conditions.101 The development of research since, surrounding the use of colour, light, materiality and views, has strongly proven the impact that space can have on the mental and physical health of the occupant. Architecturally expressed over the years through sanatoriums, baths, sleeping quarters and temples, spaces of care extend beyond the realms of the medic. A modern example of architectures of care are the use of Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres. Stemming from direct confrontations with Epidauros, Jencks describes in his essay, ‘The Architecture of Hope’, that ‘extending life is the main motive for Maggie’s Centres (and improving its quality is the second one).’102 Through his own very personal research on cancer treatment, Jencks found that architecture was able to work harmoniously with chemotherapy as a tool to help shift the mental patterns of the cancer patient in such a way that it reduced the speed at which cancer develops, extending their life beyond the expected timeline. Although architecture was not healing the cancer, it did play a part in supporting the treatment already existing, and gave a place for ‘joy’ that Jencks concluded was not to be separated from the stages of dying.103 Applied to the survivor of domestic abuse, it is not accurate to understand architecture as the primary tool for recovery, when it sits within a system of support networks and recovery courses set out with the primary focus to work through barriers that prevent post-abuse healing.104

96. Sarah Robinson, From Object to Experience by Harry Mallgrave (London, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2018) pg 3. 97. Harry Mallgrave, From Object to Experience (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2018) 8. 98. Joshua Mark, Imhotep, February 2016 <https://www.worldhistory.org/ imhotep/#google_vignette> 99. Joshua Mark, Imhotep, World History Encyclopedia, 2016 < https://www.worldhistory.org/ imhotep/#google_vignette> 100. Charles Jencks, Architecture of Hope (London, Frances Lincoln Publishers, 2015) Pg 21. 101. Nick Baker and Karen Steemers, Healthy Homes (London, RIBA Publishing, 2019) Pg 13. 102. Charles Jencks, Architecture of Hope (London, Frances Lincoln Publishers, 2015) Pg 23. 103. Ibid., 46. 104. Pat Craven, Living With the Dominator: A book about the freedom programme (Knighton: Freedom Publishing, 2008)

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e d

a: patient rooms b: chapel room c: museum room d: kitchen e: offices f: 1958 operating theatre ‘b wing’ g: boiler room h: marketable

Figure 39. paimio sanatorium by alvar aalto as a form of rooftop care.

the house and the survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

However, post-abuse dwellings are able to and ought to work in harmony with these already established medical care systems. It could be put into question, whether a ‘normal’ house without the abuser is sufficient for recovery? It is often assumed by local authorities when determining social housing for the survivor that this separation from the abuser is the conclusive factor, and the only spatial consideration required for recovery. However, designing for post-abuse is not about aiming to achieve normality, and therefore, the perception that a removal from the abuser is sufficient to live a ‘normal’ life is flawed. The state of normality that once was before experiencing domestic abuse has been overshadowed by the encounter with domestic abuse and therefore is not the reality the survivor now lives. ‘A reality no longer is what it was when it was: it cannot be reconstructed’.105 Now with the only ‘normal’ as experiencing abuse, and for some of the survivors interviewed this has been their normal for over thirty years, the very typology of the home should be re-considered to step outside of the bounds of normality. Achieving a new typology for recovery must better entangle architecture with empathy beyond what the existing typology of social housing achieves. This is not to critique existing social housing, but instead to note that the primary factors in design have shifted from better quality housing for the working class, to housing that will aid a state of wellbeing in a post-pandemic, working-fromhome environment. In his study ‘From Object to Experience’, Mallgrave, in parallel with psychologist Edward Titchener and philosopher Robert Vischer, remarks that ‘Empathy was not simply an emotional expression but rather the psychophysiological process by which we relate to or find pleasure in artistic forms…through which we relate not only to objects but also emotionally to other human beings.’106 In this manner, Mallgrave gives agency back to the architect, along with a responsibility that form does follow function, and the function is first and foremost to consider the relationship that form has on the emotional care of human beings. Further, Mallgrave breaks down the tools through which form is able to ‘care’ for the health of the user: ‘Architecture can exploit our sensory and cognitive dispositions with its striking use of spaces, forms, textures, materials, light and colour - their energetic and complementary relationships.’107 Therefore, the relationship between form and empathy, otherwise understood as architecture and care, is intrinsically connected and cannot be separated from the domestic abuse survivor and the prescribed social housing that is set out in the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act.

105. Milan Kundera, Ignorance (London: Faber and Faber Limited, 2002) 123-4. 106. Harry Mallgrave, From Object to Experience (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2018) 106. 107. Ibid., 158.

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part ii.

Adapting Existing Infrastructure for Post-Domestic Abuse Support

design guide

introduction

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

introduction This design guide seeks to provide support for the domestic abuse survivor by proposing the retrofitting of existing social housing. Its aim is to ensure that long-term housing is made suitable for the recovery of the survivor. The guide addresses the design of private, semi-private and public spaces in social housing schemes; by rethinking their original post-war intent, the guide proposes a perception shift of the social house from being primarily a place of shelter to primarily an architecture of care. Established in the context of the 2021 Domestic Abuse Act, the guide has responded to interviews with abuse survivors in order to inform the development of a spatial criteria that can be practiced in conjunction with the Acts intent for rehousing. The guide accompanies the preceding supportive research thesis and infers a design solution, proposing design interventions alongside material and structural studies that develop an alternative typology for social housing intended to be used as a precedent.

designing and constructing for post domestic abuse recovery As highlighted in Part I, the role of architecture in the stages of domestic abuse, from abuse to recovery, is intertwined. Nevertheless, social housing as a national response does not consider the impact architecture has on recovery, resulting in many homes adding to the trauma of the survivor. This design guide is set out to ensure that where social housing is used as a response, these private, semi-private and public spaces play a crucial role in the supporting infrastructure for the abuse survivor. Social housing is already experiencing a deficit in providing the required quantity of housing as more people than ever struggle to afford a secure place to live. Therefore, the guide is established according to a scale of funding. In acknowledging the impact that finance has for change, the scale presents the complexity and cost of the housing retrofit according to the level of support it provides. The guide situates itself centrally in the conversation of traumainfluenced design and considers the fundamental level that architecture has in supporting recovery. In adapting social housing for the abuse survivor, the guide considers how housing the domestic abuse survivor in already existing social housing can in turn support the existing housing community and its facilities.

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part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure.

Figure 40. four stages towards an architecture of recovery.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

four stages towards an architecture of recovery Architecture for post-domestic abuse recovery can be identified in four stages of implementation. The guide spans across these stages recognising common methods of fabrication and design considerations for establishing an architecture of care. ‘Fabrication’ Manufacturing CLT components for varying prefabricated profiles. The timber components are constructed for easy on-sight construction to prevent disturbance. ‘Haven Blanket’ Retrofit existing infrastructure to develop spaces that better aid security the process of recovery for the abuse survivor. ‘Haven Home’ Penetrate the city as new build infrastructures located on affordable plots of land that meet the standard for post trauma recovery. ‘Fragments of Urban Recovery’ Public spaces that support community engagement in post-abuse friendly environments.

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part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure.

who is the design guide for? This guide is for the use of local authorities, developers and designers involved with the process of rehoming the domestic abuse refugee. It is intended that the design guide will help to equip authorities and designers with the relevant knowledge to inform their design process and decisionmaking when assessing the spatial requirements for rehoming and whether or not the architecture is of a high enough standard.

design principles The design guide is structured around five principles. Each principle addresses concerns of the abuse survivor, providing the thematic basis for a spatial criteria. The following principles can be used to evaluate the quality of the space and the role it can play in the process of recovery. Social Support: Assessing the role that architecture plays in creating social overlaps and in-forced social interactions to develop a local support network. Spatial Dimensions: Considering the total area of the domestic space and methods to arrange avenues for safety and comfort. Perception of Control: Designing architectural flexibility for decision making in the process of regaining independence and resilience. Positive Distraction: The use of environmental elements in reducing levels of stress, eliciting positive feelings, holding attention and interest without taxing the individual. Material Palette: Proposing a series of properties that can be gained by certain types of materials, invoking a soft-touch, pacifying effect.

1.1

69.

Panic Button

‘I don’t understand why more panic alarms are not installed within the home, it can’t be that difficult.’108

Costing just £200 for item and installation, the panic button provides a tool to alert emergency services, enabling a response within an average time of 45 minutes. Located in what has been described as the epicentre of arguments, the panic button opens an additionally route of escape to the kitchen. Although not providing an additional architectural access/exit route to the kitchen, the panic button does offer a level of secure exit in times of feeling trapped and afraid through the involvement of the police and possibly even the implementation of a local PCSO. 108. Jan Pahl, Personal Interview, 22 February 2022

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Balcony: Soft Recovery

1.2

109. Rem Koolhaas, Elements of Architecture (Koln: Taschen, 2018) 1073.

‘The balcony is the modern architectural element par excellence... it became the health-giver (Sanatoriums), mediator between public and private realms...’109 Designed in accordance to the post-abuse architectural fragments, the balcony adapts a common architectural fragment found in Low-Rise and High-Rise social housing, to better respond to the relationship between health and light, views, biophilia, exposed materiality, softness and rest. The balcony is the initial stage of the survivor leaving the home and becoming exposed to the external public. Therefore, it is necessary to consider these initial steps with a high level of care in order to quicken the stages of recovery. A single bad experience in the initial stages to recovery is likely to result in delaying the process of recovery. Thus the design provides multiple thresholds of visual connection, progressing from the internal window seat, the partially covered external blind to the openly exposed area of the exterior balcony.

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[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H]

[I]

A. Soft Window: Through introducing a simple curved block at the top of the existing rectangular profile frames the view and softens the appearance. B. Cork Wall Blanket: Soft layer of cork boards layered over existing brick wall, also providing shelving for plant location. C. Blind: Allows for use of the balcony without feeling as though people can see - for early stages of leaving the house and becoming more exposed. D. Boarded Window: Increasing the size of one windows means the second window is able to be boarded up, having currently allowed access from neighbours balcony into flat. E. Biophilia: Proven to have restorative impact on trauma survivors. F. Shingles: Cladding the exterior with timber shingles for a softened external wall. G. Removing the Brick: Keeping the lintel at the same height and simply removing a few layers of brick allows for more light to flood into the building, providing a welcoming view. H. Window Seat: For times of retreat, a window seat is one of the most peaceful places for a home with lots of light and views to greenery. I. Foam Underlay Flooring: Chevron flowing with a silicon filler and foam underlay provides a shock absorbing floor surface for comfort within the home.

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Post Trauma Living Room

1.3

110. SD, Personal Interview (Jan 2022) 37:03.

‘My brain instantly goes, that’s not safe. If you get flung from the kitchen you’re on stone, if you fall down the stairs, you’re on stone, but then I realise that’s what everyone is doing at the moment, but clearly my brain thinks, but they don’t think of that because clearly in their life they have never had to think about being flung from a kitchen.’110

The living room, often as an intersection to various architectural fragments of abuse within social housing typologies, is required to rethink certain standardised elements of design. The staircase as one of the biggest architectural triggers proposes turning the bottom and top three steps in order to give room for a mid-level, soft landing. Further the floor surface at the bottom of the staircase is set as chevron flooring above a foam overlay in order to absorb high levels of impact. The living room internalised common external louvres, creating alcoves either side to the window and limiting the visual field through which an external member could see during night time. As one of the biggest obstacles in the living room, the window is redesigned to allow light in, sight out but not sight in.

73.

[A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I]

A. Banister: Made from a single sheet of plywood, this banister has been filleted and sanded to provide a soft touch. Solid in its form, it turns the staircase into a hide-away location for moments of panic. B. Cork Wall Blanket: Soft layer of cork boards layered over plywood wall for both insulation and soft walls, with the frame height designed to avoid high-risk body heights (e.g. head, chest...) C. Exterior Light: With the internal louvred windows, the area for people seeing into the home is limited to a 1.5 meter radius, therefore, the external wall light illuminates this area to avoid night time visual access in without seeing out. D. Internal Louvres: By internalising the louvres, it doesn’t just prevent sight in, but provides a sense of security from inside the home. Additionally it provided an alcove either side and a window seat for day-time resting. E. Staircase: As one of the biggest architectural triggers, the staircase has been designed for soft landings every meter for lowimpact fall, with a foam padded mid-level. Also brightening this feature softened the appearance. F. Safe Space: The bathroom is considered one of the run-too spaces for anxiety attacks, therefore it is directly off of the living room and hidden within the wall. G. Seated Window: The placement of the window at 80cm high means visual access in is further restrained. H. Parapet: Designed to prevent sights from the ground up but provide sight from the rooftop down. I. External Cork: In places of stopping, the building is clad in cork for even softer touch than timber shingles.

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1.4 Shared Kitchen: Regaining Trust With The Adjoining Neighbour

111. Charles Jencks, Architecture of Hope (London: Frances Lincoln Publishers, 2015) 16.

‘It led to the notion that one architectural meaning essential for self-help is a friendly, convivial atmosphere with food and drink offered as you come in the door - a philosophy we mark as ‘kitchenism’ (the primary place of the dining table and a cup of tea.’111

Said to consist of the most weapons, the kitchen offers plenty of positive distraction through views out across the vista and the garden. The kitchen is proposed as a shared space, enabling support by a survivor who has endured a similar level of experience. Offering four entrances, the kitchen design alleviates associated ptsd and anxiety by offering control to the survivor.

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[A]

[B] [C]

[D] [E]

A. Bi-folding Door: Access to the private parapet allows for a space to rest and drink some tea with a neighbour. B. Sight to Garden: Visual Access to the garden allows for plenty of light and greenery to flood into the kitchen whilst also providing sight to any children in the garden space. C. Cork Wall Blanket: Soft layer of cork boards layered over plywood wall for both insulation and soft walls, with the frame height designed to avoid high-risk body heights (e.g. head, chest...) D. Desk Height Counter Top: The height of the kitchen counters have been raised to the standard desk heigh to create space to work with visual access across the surrounding environment. E: Shared Utilities: Activities to create times of conversation in order to support the process of trusting people again.

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1.5 Social and Environmental Buffer Zones

112. Pier Vittoria Aureli and Maria Sheherazade Giudici, Familiar Horror: Toward a Critique Of Domestic Space (in Log, no.38, 2016) 109.

‘The most important space is the courtyard, a place for gathering the elements…the courtyard is a representational space, an interiorized public space.’112

One of the hardest things for a survivor is to leave their home, therefore, the garden has been designed to develop a gradient of privacy, starting with the adjoining neighbour, eventually working across to the entire neighbourhood. Between the two private spaces sits a semi-private mid-doors area with a shared kitchen, garden and visually shared balcony spaces. These learn from existing abuse shelters that use shared space as a means to developing support infrastructures. Further, by selecting the correct plantation, the boundary line between public walkway, garden space and kitchen views can be established clearly without dividing the community by walls or fences. By choosing plants that sit at a variety of heights, a stricter wall can prevent pedestrians of visitors from seeing into the private kitchen space.

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[A]

[B]

[C]

[D]

[E]

[F] [G]

A. Mid-doors Copper Roofing: By adding a partial roof to the garden creates a space that can be used all year round. This turns the garden into a conversational space even in wetter months, allowing for social interaction without opening the home. B. Fake glazing: Through the designs of the columns, the ground level appearance of the mid-doors resembles the qualities of large glazing panels, making the roof-top extension blend in as a standard roof conversion. C. Trellis: The columns double up as trellis’, allowing for plantation to grow upwards, developing the green space of the garden. D. Social Buffer Zones: The balcony to garden relationship acts as a social buffer zone, the initial stages of recovery will see them used as the first moments of leaving the home and facing external interaction. E. Central Tree: The large central tree becomes a common interest between the adjoining neighbours, allowing for the development of a coterie. F. Kitchen Overlook: The windows sighting into the garden space provides a safe area for children to play whilst the parent is in the kitchen/work space. G. Boundary Plants: The selection of high plants gives a clear visual divide between the private and public spaces without the use of harsh fences breaking the community engagement.

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1.6 Public Toilets: Islands for Retreat

113. Leslie Kern, Feminist City: Claiming Space in a Man-Made World (London: Verso, 2002) 70.

‘As a space where we want and often need to be alone, in a most pressing and sometimes urgent manner, the bathroom – or lack of a bathroom – generates all kinds of questions about safety, accessibility, gender, sexuality, class, homelessness, race and more.’113 Although the majority of violence towards survivors took place within the domestic space, the initial stages of leaving the home can often be both frightening and taxing for the survivor. With public toilets currently used as a place of refuge for many women who experience domestic abuse, the design positions the public toilet at the first and last point of the social housing low-rise building. This allows for first moments of visual contact with the external surroundings to be paired with an island for retreat. Attached to the staircase or posted at the entrance of the enables these public spaces to be accessible in times of fear. Designed with three thresholds, each strategically positions windows to allow for sight out and preventing sight in. Also layering the qualities of sound to allow for privacy but also alarming neighbours in times of concern.

79.

[A] [B]

[C] [D] [E] [F]

A. Staircase: The connection to the staircase allows for not only access from the first moment of leaving the home and the last moment before entering into the home, but also is positioned in an area of neighbourhood footfall as a strategically placed shelter for support. B. Shingle Roof: The timber shingle roof provides a soft skin to the toilet, blending with the further on-site construction. C. Area One: Offers initial point of refuge with a window looking out with external louvres. When the door is open, this allows for users of the stairway to be able to see in. D. External Louvres: Limiting sight into area one of the public toilets but also allowing natural light in and a glow out at night time for neighbourhood awareness. E. Area Two: The common toilet allows for complete retreat, further insulated with cork for calming privacy. F. Lower Window: This ground level window is designed to allow for sight out when inside, hiding away, giving knowledge to the survivor of who is around, but prevent sight in through the awareness of neighbour surrounding the public toilets preventing someone laying on the floor to be able to see in.

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1.7 Community Crèche: Visual Connection and Social Engagement

114. Jan Pahl, Private Violence and Public Policy (London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1985) 49.

‘Often it was when the eldest child started to notice what was going on that women decided that it was time to leave home.’114

The crèche plays a vital role in not just supporting the survivor within social housing, but in turn, rejuvenating the social engagement within social housing buildings which has been lost since the introduction of the right to buy scheme. Designed for the whole building, is designed to aid post-abuse recovery. With visual access to children, the terraced and stairway allows for social cross-overs choreographed by the architecture. Curtains are used within the space not just to enable privacy but also to further divide the space in up to three sections, with two double height spaces and one single height for intimacy and gatherings.

81.

[A]

[B]

[C]

[D]

[E] [F] [G] [H]

A. Viewpoint: The private stairway provides visual access into the creche connecting the entire building, not just the post-abuse housing survivors. This shared facility then becomes an tool of social engagement. B. Roof Light: Allowing noon-day sun into the double height spaces of the building, this window also allows for a visual connection from children to parents from the staircase into the creche. C. Terraced Area: Access through the staircase, the window panel enables parents to be able to watch children whilst socialising with other parents in a semi enclosed area. D. Shingle Roofing: Cladding the exterior with timber shingles for a softened external wall. E. Walk Way: This short balcony bridge overlaps the entrance into the creche/events space creating social overlaps between survivors and existing residents. F. Curtains: Designed to break the space up for more intimate gathering, the curtains break up the undesirable open plan, as well as curtaining off the bi-folding doors during the darker winter months. G. Cork Entrance Wall: Soft layer of cork boards layered over plywood wall for both insulation and soft walls, with the frame height designed to avoid high-risk body heights (e.g. head, chest...) H. Bi-Folding Wall: Used as a public space within times of larger gathering, the room provides a bi-folding wall that enables quick exits within a large crowd.

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part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure.

Facilitate parents supervising their children. Employ design strategies that allow parents to supervise their children without being in the same physical space. Clear sightlines between the kitchen and the exterior space or individual units and the exterior, allows parents to prepare meals, learn, talk to an advocate, etc., while their children play, read or study. Integrate benches and comfortable places for adults to sit adjacent to outdoor play spaces.

designated childrens play area

visual access for parental peace of mind

Figures 41-44. diagrams of spatial aids for the abuse survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

diagrams of care

curtained alcove for retreat

Alcoves allow residents to retreat from larger group situations. Children in particular, but also adults love window seats, alcoves and other peripheral spaces that allow them to create their own space while also being connected to the larger, communal space.

designing peripheral spaces

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part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure.

At entries to private spaces, dutch doors, shades and shutters allow residents to control their environment and level of social engagement. This makes it easy for residents to signal their openness to spontaneous socializing.

sliding doors

giving control to the occupant

Figures 45-48. diagrams of spatial aids for the abuse survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

diagrams of care

visual access

Visual access throughout the building enhances autonomy. Choosing when to interact and with whom is an essential component of self determination. Residents appreciate the ability to see who is in a communal space before entering it. Interior windows or cutouts and open sight lines can accomplish this. At the same time clear visual access supports people who may be deaf, hearing impaired or use sign language to communicate. Clarify wayfinding. An easy-to-navigate environment is particularly important for people who are anxious, depressed, or in crisis. Clear wayfinding helps people with short term memory problems or other cognitive challenges (which are not uncommon for survivors who have sustained traumatic brain injuries from being beaten).

way-finding wall

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part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure.

Flexibility within communal spaces stimulates and encourages a variety of uses. Incorporating “tools,” such as mobile storage and lightweight but durable furniture, encourages and empowers residents and staff to reconfigure and transform the space to support their needs. Colour, the position of furniture and rugs, and lighting may be used to create boundaries within a larger room rather than creating multiple smaller rooms that ultimately limit future flexibility.

flexible dining area

fold away tables for more public or more private dining

Figures 49-52. diagrams of spatial aids for the abuse survivor

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

diagrams of care

window seat

Abundant daylight and views to the outdoors promote wellness. Position rooms, windows, and skylights to maximize natural daylight and increase views of natural features like gardens and trees. Place windows strategically throughout the building to provide a sense of connection between the inside and outside, while still preserving the feeling of security.

natural light and visual connection to natural features

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part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure.

Figure 53. typology design for soft high-density housing

fabrication and structural analysis

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

89.

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part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure. 2.1 location: height as a threshold for safety

distant views

near

close sunlit

height as a threshold for safety

view down providing time for response

6 3

blocked view up for privacy

0 buzzer as a barrier

reduction of noise from street traffic

building-up health benefits

how locating on the top floor enhances recovery

Figures 54-56. adavantages of rooftop construction for the domestic abuse survivor

Although building up comes with a huge economical advantage, it also comes with benefits for survivor recovery. These consist of positive distraction, increasing the time for decision making and reducing street level noise pollution.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

fabrication and structural analysis

91.

2.2 materiality

material

weight (kg/m3)

compressive strength (psi)

renewable

sustainable

soft feel

timber

350-450

7,000

yes

steel

7850

2,500,000

yes

clay

1600

580

yes

polycarbonate

200

121,000

yes

glass

2500

150,000

yes

granite

2691

19,000

yes

concrete

2400

2,500-4,000

yes

cork

240

3,770

yes

basic material properties

In order to understand the primary method of fabrication, it is important first of all to select materials based on their structural, environmental and project applicable properties. As a result, the core materials used within the project are timber, glass and cork due to fulfilling the entire set of criteria set out.

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part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure. 2.3 soft frame: beam

ø = 1928÷1100 ø = 0.84 º = (180÷π) x 0.84 º = 48.3

a soft frame

Figure 57. assembly of a soft frame for high density housing Figure 58. analyses of a soft junction

Steam bending is a easy to set-up method by which to bend wood. Nevertheless, the thickness of the wood is imperative to the bend radius required. Consequently to use this method the columns - beams would need to be layered into at least three thinner segments.

fabrication and structural analysis

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

2.4 soft junction: ceiling

01 thirdly the larger curve softens the corner with almost no clear start and finishing point to the curve.

02 fourthly, by lowerng the point of direction coming out of the curve produces a non-visible curve line when looking up.

03 fifthly, the curve bends significantly with a very soft final aesthetic with minimal shadow.

a soft junction Harshness of design often reveals itself in the moment where two more more surfaces meet, this is due to the collection of darkness, and the sense of being trapped as you are held against this junction. Therefore, this brief study of a single curve (with a double curved space being too complex for low budget design) enagages with the impact architecture can have on the softness of a space.

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part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure. 2.5 soft wall: cork

Interior + Exterior Retrofit: U-Value: 0.227 Condensate: 0.36 kg/m2 Heat Storage Capacity: 106 kJ/m2k

a soft wall

Figure 59. wall layout with use of cork and timber shingles Figure 60. axonometric drawing showing layers of wall build Figure 61. steam bent timber shingles test Figure 62. timber shingles application to soft typology

Although enough reason is given for making architectural ammendements to social housing for domestic abuse recovery, the theory behind structure often gets over seen within loacal authorities. As a result, the use of cork insulation provides an energy efficency result.

fabrication and structural analysis

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

95.

2.6 soft skin: timber shingles

a soft skin The construction of the timber shingles is not only about being light weight, nor only about the softness of the timber, but the ease of the process for DIY construction gives a position within the project for survivor involvement, personalising the home whilst also giving an activity to partake in for easing conversation, developing the required positive distraction. Though not the whole roof, some of the tiles could be made within a days workshop and placed onto the homes.

96.

part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure. 2.7 safety in sight: parapet

parapet as a safety mechanism

Figure 63. parapet view from root top of social housing Figure 64. exploration into parapet height and angle for optimum view and safety

The relationship from the top of the building down to ground floor and the position that this sighting has for the survivor is a crucial aspect for recovery. For the survivor, giving as much time as possible from first sighting too roof-top meeting is imperative for initial meetings. In contrast, the view from the ground floor, looking up should be as hidden as possible in order to prevent sight from the abuser.

fabrication and structural analysis

1000mm parapet

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

15º + 300mm parapet

sight down, hidden up The relationship between looking down and looking up is one of the number of benefits for using roof-top construction for domestic abuse survivors. A large majority of survivors will be very suspicious within the first couple of years and therefore it is crucial to see who is coming up the building whilst blocking the view of any potential perpetrator.

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98.

part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure. 2.8 green boundary

planting a tool for privacy

Figure 65. view of garden with green boundary Figure 66. ideal plants for green boundary

By selecting the correct plants, the boundary line between public walkway, garden space and kitchen views can be made clear without dividing the community with walls or fences. By choosing plants that sit at a variety of heights, a stricter wall can prevent pedestrians of visitors from seeing into the more private kitchen space.

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

fabrication and structural analysis

pennisetum

honeysuckle

bamboo

star jasmine

calamagrostic ‘karl foerster’

privert, ligustrum

99.

100.

part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure. 2.9 safety in sight: window external louvres

internal louvres creating alcoves and window seat

lowered seating window

light in, sight out

Figure 67. window tests for optimum sight out but preventing night time sight in Figure 68. benefits of the adjoining neighbour

This study briefly touches on a large area of threat for the recovering survivor. The window is crucial for day-time views developing a positive distraction for the survivor, however, at night time, these windows become large areas of threat with no being able to see out, yet anyone is able to see in, therefore, these five studies engage with design techniques that can get light in whilst keeping sight out.

fabrication and structural analysis

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

101.

2.10 adjoining neighbour

copper sheet as partial rain covering visual access to neighbour for safety open space to appear as glazing from below trellis for planting to grow up top of kitchen area as panic escape to neighbours or garden shared kitchen leading to shared garden door opening onto close neighbourhood parapet balcony as an initial stage to leaving the home whilst also providing views to adjoining neighbour kitchen as wind shield for winter gardening

social and environmental buffer zone Between the two private spaces sits a semi-private middoors area with a shared kitchen, garden and visually shared balcony spaces. These learn from existing abuse shelters that use shared space to help develop support infrastructures from a surface level stance.

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part ii: a guide to adapting existing infrastructure.

Figure 69. proposed council housing estate with domestic abuse stages of support

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

fabrication and structural analysis

103.

104.

conclusion

Altogether, the focus on the provision of housing in policy, the interaction with the architecture of the home during domestic abuse and the evidence of how architecture can beneficially impact recovery from trauma confirm that architecture needs to play a more significant part in aiding the long term recovery of the domestic abuse survivor. The 2021 Domestic Abuse Act has provided a foundation for an increase in architectural involvement by prioritising social housing for the survivor as a long term option of support. However, having considered the materiality of the social house, it is clear that this is still insufficient in its current state to form a sustainable solution. An analysis of the three main typologies of social housing, and their common architectural traits, has made clear that an official spatial criteria needs to be devised in conjunction with the DAA, in order to make effectual changes to the state of housing that support the survivor in the process of recovery. Nevertheless, the DAA’s provision of existing infrastructure provides a realistic opportunity for social housing to become a tool for recovery. If regarded from the outset as a long term option, and not only as a means of initial escape, the architecture of the home can consider the survivor’s process of recovery and the methods through which architecture is able to, and should, support this. It is the view that the home for the survivor should be primarily to provide immediate safety that is impeding the possibility for social housing to have a real impact on aiding recovery. As proved by conversations with survivors, architecture has become a weapon within domestic abuse, causing specific elements of architecture to act as triggers for the domestic abuse survivor. Currently, with no identifiable consideration given to these elements in the design of the long term house, there is a loophole exposed in the effectiveness of existing strategy for support. In order to provide architecture that holistically supports the recovery of the abuse survivor, a retrofit of the proposed social housing must make use of a spatial criteria that is tailored to the survivor’s experience. Through understanding the implicit link that architecture has to domestic abuse, this criteria can redesign architectural triggers and implement: social support, perceptions of control, positive distraction and a pacifying material palette. It is due to the large role architecture has played in the process of abuse, that it should play an equally considerable role in the stages of post-abuse recovery. With an existing body of architecture already exemplifying empathy within design, the potential for supporting the mental and physical recovery of the survivor through a series of retrofits to the domestic space is huge despite existing housing for the survivor having minimal impact on recovery. Illustrated by the design guide’s examples, when a principle of care is made the objective of designing the home, it offers an architecture of healing. The inclusion of a spatial criteria, along with the prioritised provision of social housing offered by policy in the process of rehousing, can result in the long-term home responding directly to the requirements of the domestic abuse survivor, and will thus be able to play a significant role in supporting their recovery.

Figure 70. photo of woman by oscar newman, defensible space, new york: macmillan, 1972. fig. 160. ‘Simulation of tenant at Bronxdale watching her children at play on her tv set.’

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

105.

106.

appendices

Tab Interview:

House as Tool of Abuse

Health c

Locked me in the house causing me to lose my job

Extreme

Aged: 35-45

Didn’t let me have friends in the house or speak with them

PTSD

November 2021 Jammed my arms in doors

Isolation

Threw ﬁnery at me Pinned me up against walls Broke the walls and said I had to repair them because they were my fault Created mess for me to tidy up Held a knife to my face MK

Pushed me up the stairs when carrying my baby

PTSD

Aged: 20-30

Punch me

Paranoia

October 2021 Pin me to the ﬂoor Take my phone Locked me out the house Smashed my phone against the wall Strangled me till and then locked me in the room away from my children Broke through my door and punched me Sat on me and punched me against the ground Dragged me up the stairs Locked me in the bedroom Stopped me using the toilet Slammed the window down onto my ﬁngers Hid in the loft and jumped down and attacked me Stopped me running to the neighbours and knocking on there door CL

Smash objects

Daughte

Aged: 50-60

Punch the house

Daughte

January 2022 Trapped me in the corner of rooms Broke the plasterboard in the hallway

Night Tre

Separatio

Threw plates out the door Smashed the kitchen CC

Pretend to stab me wife a knife

Anxiety

Aged: 60-70

Banned friends from coming round

Insomnia

Appendix A. table of information gathered from interviews with survivors of domestic abuse

January 2022 Wouldn’t let me see neighbours Hit me

Fear of c

Son scar

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

ble 1

conditions as a result of domestic abuse

House as Tool for Recovery

Anxiety

Alternative ways to escape

er has PTSD

Big Windows

er has Anxiety

Calming Lighting

emors

on Anxiety

Had to remove everything in the house

Courtyard - a support system

confrontation

Places to hide away

red of men + fear of shouting

Don’t want people able to see in through the windows

107.

Aged: 50-60 108.

Punch the house January 2022 Trapped me in the corner of rooms

appendices

Broke the plasterboard in the hallway Threw plates out the door Smashed the kitchen

Daughte

Night Tre

Separatio

Tab

Interview:

House as Tool of Abuse

Health c

JS CC

Locked me in the house Pretend to stab me wife acausing knife me to lose my job

Extreme Anxiety

Didn’t letfriends me have friends in the house or speak with them Banned from coming round

PTSD Insomnia

Aged: Aged: 35-45 60-70

November arms inneighbours doors January 2021 2022 Jammed Wouldn’t my let me see Threw Hit me ﬁnery at me

Isolation Fear of c

Son scar

Pinned up against Kick meme in the head walls Broke the walls andthe said I hadand to repair because they Son would run out house knockthem on neighbours doorwere my fault Attack me where no one could see in Created mess for me to tidy up Locked me out the house Held a knife to my face Stole the keys Avoided being at the top of the stairs Pushed me up the stairs when carrying my baby Pin me on the ﬂoor Punch me

MK Aged: 20-30 SD Aged: 50-60

October 2021 Pin me to the ﬂoor Wouldn’t let me see friends Take my phone Thrown from the kitchen into the hall Locked me out the house January 2022 Kitchen become the centre of arguments Smashed my phone against the wall Corner plinth on cabinet cut up my back Strangled me till and then locked me in the room away from my children Hands pressed down on halogen heater

PTSD

Paranoia Anxiety PTSD

Broke through my door and punched me Lean me over stairs Sat onmy merib and me against the ground Broke onpunched the balustrade Dragged me up the stairs Carpet burns Locked me in the bedroom Stopped me using the toilet Slammed the window down onto my ﬁngers Hid in the loft and jumped down and attacked me Shut me in and taking my son out Stopped me running to the neighbours and knocking on there doorthrough my possessions Go

SE Aged: unknown

February 2022 Wouldn’t let me sleep in the same bed so I used an airbed CL

Smash objects

Daughte

Aged: 50-60 NT

Punch open the house Would the doors and windows to make me cold

Daughte Anxiety

Trapped me in the Icorner rooms Aged: unknown January 2022 Throw away what cookedoffor him

Night Tre PTSD

the plasterboard in the broke hallway January 2022 Broke Iron thrown at me and nearly my arm

Separatio Scared t

Threw plates outinthe door He broke doors a temper

Panic att

Smashed thewith kitchen He beat me my grandaughter upstairs

Paranoia

Ruptured my kidney

Never wa

Pretend to stab me wife a knife Cut my head open

Anxiety

Aged: 60-70

Banned friends from coming round

Insomnia

Appendix A (cont.) table of information gathered from interviews with survivors of domestic abuse

January 2022 Wouldn’t let me see neighbours Hit me

Fear of c

Son scar

er has Anxiety

Calming Lighting

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

emors

on Anxiety

ble 1

conditions as a result of domestic abuse Anxiety

nconfrontation

red of men + fear of shouting

House as Tool for Recovery Had to remove everything in the house Courtyard - a support system Places to hide away Don’t want people able to see in through the windows Prevent loud door knocking

Alternative ways to escape

a Introduce new ways of leaving the house in stages Fear of open plan as no where to hide Fear of stairs as a place to be pushed Flooring around staircase needs to be considered for soft landing Bathroom is used as a place to hide Top ﬂoor ﬂat with buzzer Scared of the visibility of by-folding doors Curtains to shut when it gets dark to prevent anyone from seeing in Controlling the time it takes for someone to get to your house Multi-locks Frosted glass and a lower eye piece on the door with a multi-lock Somewhere safe to lock possessions House is my stability

er has PTSD

Big Windows

er has Anxiety

Calming Lighting Scared he would show up at my house

emors

I feel safe when I lock all the doors and bolt all the gates

onbe Anxiety to around people

tacks

ant to be in another relationship Had to remove everything in the house

Courtyard - a support system

confrontation

Places to hide away

red of men + fear of shouting

Don’t want people able to see in through the windows

109.

110.

appendices BB, 8.10.2021 Wondering of anybody can give me some advise on my current situation. My partner (now ex) is currently in police custody for assault and long term coercive behaviour. Our child is on CP because of his abuse and his mental health (hears voices telling him to kill me and our 1 year old) I am not comfortable going home to an address that he knows so I am staying with family for now, refuge is not an option for lots of reasons, police safeguarding team and social services are very concerned for our welfare and will be pushing local authority to re-home us. Has anyone been in a similar situation and know how long this process takes? An injuction is also getting put in place and he has to go through the courts to have supervised contact with our daughter. Any advise anyone can give would be gratefully recieved. Thank you xx AH, 8.10.2021 I’m less that 7 weeks away from birth and I’m absolutely petrified. I just thought I had longer in this pregnancy to accept what has happened to me before I have to give birth but it’s just come around to fast …. I feel unsupported by the midwife/perinatal team and all the staff in the refuge . I would say the only one that’s actually been good recently and we have had a terrible relationship in the past is my sons social worker . I’m struggling to cope . ANONYMOUS, 12.9.2021 I hate everything about my life right now , I’m struggling to get past each hour . This refuge is making my mental health worse , the girls all of a sudden are so mean and I can hear constant bitching . I feel so isolated and lonely . I’m away from everything I love and to live in a house full of nastiness is really starting to impact me. The staff don’t seem to be taking me seriously and I’m literally just about clinging on to life . Everyone tells me things will get better but thats not helping me right now . I know I’m a burden to the professionals around me but right now they are the only support I’ve got around me . I just feel as if I’m trying to fight a battle I just can’t see . My life is shattered and there are just far to many pieces for me to pick up . ANONYMOUS, 5.3.2021 Hi I am in refuge ( sharing house ) for 3 months and half and I feel that I have enough from it ( hygiene problems too much noise sometimes they wack up as during the night ) I asked my support worker to change to another refuge but they said I will start new contract with 6 months! is that true? Another question : Can I apply for housing by my self as they don’t want to apply they said still earlier ? Any help any advice is more then welcome. As I am new to the UK and I don’t know the rules and law Thanks

Appendix b. excerts from conversations taken from a facebook group for domestic abuse survivors

the art of getting by: from domestic abuse to social housing

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