EXHIBITION: ON SANCTUARY | ARCHITECTURAL POSSIBILITIES FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS

ON VIEW

February 26-March 13

Free and open to all!

LOCATION & HOURS

108 Wurster Hall (campus map)
Mondays-Fridays 10am-5pm

PANEL DISCUSSION

Wednesday, March 6 at 6:30pm in the Wurster Auditorium (112 Wurster)

ON SANCTUARY | ARCHITECTURAL POSSIBILITIES FOR DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTERS

With the 50th anniversary of the first formal Women’s Shelter (Domestic Violence Shelter) quickly approaching, this exhibition examines the architectural evolution and typologies for sheltering victims of domestic abuse and proposes new architectural potentials for designing purpose built shelters. Domestic Violence Shelters are both architecturally and physically anonymous. Drawing from dormitory, housing and prison architecture; they shelter, separate and fortify which brings to question: Do they protect or remove? To shelter, is to give temporary protection from danger. Architecturally ‘to protect from danger’ can often translate into methods of fortification causing suppression through lack of exposure and connectivity to the external environment. Thus, the architecture of shelters must bridge this challenging line between protecting without suppressing its occupants. Organized into three research and design explorations: [On] Context & Camouflage, [On] Site & Security and [On] Retreat & Restoration, the exhibition proposes from extreme constraints and parameters arise great opportunities for innovation.

CURATED AND ORGANIZED BY MIA ZINNI | BERKELEY ARCHITECTURE

Mia Zinni joined the CED Architecture faculty in the fall of 2017 to teach design studios in the undergraduate program. Mia is an architect licensed in New York, and is currently working with the San Francisco based practice IwamotoScott Architects. Previously she was an Associate at SHoP Architects in New York City. She holds a B.A. in Architecture from the University of California Berkeley and an M.Arch from Columbia University. 

Mia is the Co-Founder of EMpower Design collaborative. EMpower Design’s work is dedicated to creating safe and resilient environments through an impact oriented design approach that utilizes emerging technologies and design to empower communities. The core belief of the collaborative is that safe and resilient environments aid their inhabitants in achieving contemporary goals and in turn impact broader environmental, social, political, and economic change. EMpower Design worked with SHRI (Sanitation Health Right in India) on the design and organization of a Women’s Community Space in-conjunction with public toilet blocks in the community of Nimua, Bhiar India.

ABOUT THE COLLABORATORS

AMOS GOLDREICH ARCHITECTURE

Amos Goldreich is a London based architectural practice with an international reach, specialising in buildings that provide enlightened and inspiring shelter for those inhabiting them.

They deliver award-winning design and expertise to all projects from a private residential scheme for a private client, to a domestic violence refuge centre for an international charity. Every project is approached with a personal service and rigorous attention to detail, programme and budget. Uniquely placed to add value to our client’s projects by listening, collaborating and never imposing a preconceived idea or style. Amos Goldreich’s objective is always to marry the pragmatic with the aesthetic in a way that results in buildings and places that have a positive impact on people’s lives and are a joy to experience.

Amos Goldreich’s Shelter for Victims of Domestic Violence, located near Tel-Aviv in Israel, designed in collaboration with Jacobs Yaniv Architects is one of only a handful in the world which has been designed and built in consultation with the staff who will occupy and run it. Led by pioneering human rights activist, Ruth Rasnic, for international charity ‘No To Violence’, the facility provides a much-needed refuge for distressed and abused women and children from all localities and backgrounds. On the design Ruth Rasnic stated, “The architects have created a miracle, really, a place where people of disparate backgrounds can come to terms with their individual trauma, where we can help rebuild their lives, give guidance and support during a key period of transition.”

Building Dignity | Margret Hobart & Corrie Rosen

Dr. Hobart has worked in organizations dedicated to ending domestic violence over 30 years, including DV shelter.  Her experience includes extensive advocacy and support for survivors of DV, starting Washington’s DV Fatality Review, and 15 years at the Washington State Coalition Against DV. While at WSCADV, Margaret’s focus included children impacted by domestic violence, shelter rules and policy, parenting in shelter, and in the context of domestic violence.  She worked with shelter programs around Washington and then around the country to rethink shelter rules; she coauthored Washington State’s Social Worker’s Guide to Domestic Violence; researched shelter design and worked with Mahlum to create Building Dignity. In 2014, she moved to coordinate the National LGBTQ Institute on Intimate Partner Violence, focusing on advocacy and access for LGBTQ survivors.  She received her PhD in Political Science from the University of Washington in 2003.  

Corrie Rosen works closely with clients to better understand the technical and organizational issues affecting public spaces and the needs of building user groups. Her expertise in Building Dignity planning and technical strategies has been honed over 17 years of practice. She brings keen sensitivity and commitment to enhancing the public’s understanding of the importance of architecture, and makes social outreach an integral part of her practice. Her projects empower people to effect positive change in their communities. Corrie has a Bachelor of Arts in Design of the Environment from University of Pennsylvania, and a Master of Architecture from Columbia University. She is a registered architect in Washington and is a LEED Accredited Professional.

CHERYL O'CONNOR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR | HOMEAID NORTHERN CALIFORNIA

As the first woman Regional Chair of the Building Industry Association (BIA) of the Bay Area in 2008, Cheryl O’Connor was successful in launching the first Sustainability Initiative by a homebuilding association that endorsed mandatory green building standards. She served as CEO of the BIA during the height of the economic recession from 2009 to 2011, successfully reducing organizational costs and redirecting its focus to political advocacy.  

O’Connor has held senior level management positions with Summerhill Homes, Warmington Homes, Taylor Woodrow, Ponderosa Homes and The O’Brien Group. In her career, she was directly responsible for the opening of more than 50 award winning new home communities.

After serving on the Board of Directors of HomeAid Northern California for over 4 years, building industry veteran Cheryl O’Connor stepped into the leadership role as Executive Director of HomeAid Northern California in 2011. As the charitable arm of the BIA Bay Area, HomeAid offers a unique solution to building housing for homeless individuals and families. With the help of generous homebuilders, HomeAid is able to leverage the dollars of housing providers to help end the battle of homelessness.

O’Connor is the recipient of the BIA Bay Area Lifetime Legend Award and Chairman’s Award and was inducted into the California Home Builders Hall of Fame in 2016. She also serves on several Boards including BIA Bay Area and HomeAid America.

O’Connor holds a California Real Estate Broker’s License, is a green building and affordable housing advocate and a LEED Accredited Professional (USGBC).

KTGY Architecture + Planning

A design practice dedicated to home and community. KTGY is one of the nation’s largest architecture and planning firms, dedicated to innovating better living environments from urban infill to new planned communities. Through a passion for designing the places that people call home, KTGY uses architecture, planning and design as the tools to provide solutions for building programs that range from simple to complex, while always working with a view toward satisfying client goals and designing inspired, forward-looking communities. KTGY has been honored with more than 500 design awards since its founding in 1991.

Curiosity and the exchange of ideas drives KTGY’s design thinking forward. From client feedback and occupant experience, to the work of our R+D Studio, trends, data, materials and technology are considered while continually innovating new concepts. By listening carefully to client and community aspirations, collaborating with stakeholders and drawing on the expertise of our national network of architecture studios, KTGY provides superior solutions across building types and geographic locations.

KTGY’s nearly 400 staff members serve clients around the world from offices located in Chicago, Denver, Irvine, Los Angeles, Oakland, Pune and Tysons. For more information, visit www.ktgy.com.  

SOPHORA ACHESON | RUBY'S PLACE

Sophora Acheson received her Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice, and Master’s in Counseling Psychology from Chapman University in 2011. Those affected by traumatic events, especially women, have always been a driving force in her work and education. Sophora found an opportunity to work on two incredibly important issues in 2009 that intersected both trauma and women’s issues. This experience ultimately fostered her passion in domestic violence and human trafficking work. Since then, Sophora has counseled abused and trafficked women, men and children, assisted the state in developing the standardized training for DV counselors, operated large residential DV and HT shelters, opened the United States first adult male trafficking shelter, oversaw the development and build of permanent supportive housing projects, and created some of the first trauma-informed care facilities for trafficked adults. In 2018 Sophora took the role as the Executive Director of Ruby’s Place, the county’s largest DV and HT residential services agency. With the support of the community, she plans to grow the service programs and rebuild the 47-year-old shelter in the coming years.

Emma Jasinski

Emma is an architectural designer, creative practitioner and social innovator, whose work has explored architecture’s public intersection in sanitation infrastructure, community participatory design process, and affordable housing.  

Emma pursued her master of architecture at Tulane University, where her education explored an impact oriented design approach through material reuse, site-specific awareness and cross-disciplinary research. During her education, Emma worked for Sanitation Health Rights in India (SHRI), a start-up nonprofit, that strives to improve sanitation infrastructure in rural India. Emma led the design of a community toilet facility with a biodigestion system, balancing both technical and cultural considerations. Emma focused on addressing women’s issues at the facility, organizing a multi-service site for women as a platform to improve and promote health equity. She has competed in numerous social innovation forums representing SHRI at the DELL Social Innovation Challenge, Clinton Global Initiative, Buckminster Fuller Challenge, and Global Citizen Award.

Emma currently works in Chicago as a staff designer at Landon Bone Baker Architects. LBBA is an architecture practice with an expertise in affordable housing and exercises good design for all. She has worked on various projects including; a historic renovation of an affordable residential SRO, 12 new construction multi-family residences, a 21 multifamily residential renovation of a mixed-income CHA super block, and a new construction domestic violence shelter and support center. Her projects work to strategically design safe and equal opportunity environments for underserved populations. Outside of practice, Emma is engaged with numerous community based organizations serving as a high school After School Matters Architecture instructor, an associate board member of Archi-Treasures and a volunteer at the Chicago Architecture Foundation Girls Build and youth leadership program.

Ben Refuerzo

Refuerzo has been an architectural designer and teacher for over 40 years. He is currently a UCLA Professor of Architecture and Urban Design and the School of Arts and Architecture Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity & Inclusion. Refuerzo has received a number of national and state awards for both design and applied research – giving a voice to those usually not heard from in architectural dialogue.  He has been a lifetime advocate for underrepresented communities; i.e., ethnic and cultural minorities, children, women, victims of domestic violence (including pro bono consultation in Los Angeles area to Haven Hill, Hestia House, Sojourn, & Bethlehem Shelter), migrant farm workers, the mentally ill, and the elderly and the dying (2005 book Innovations in Hospice Architecture; 2nd edition to be released 2019).