The Route To Safety
The Route to Safety focused around women who have experienced domestic violence. One out of every four women in the UK will experience abuse in their lifetime and 750,000 children witness this abuse every year, this abuse is most likely to occur within the home environment. It is estimated that two women every week within the UK are murdered by men, the most dangerous time for women in an abusive relationship is when they decide to leave. Therefore, it is essential that women have access to safe accomodation and support services.
The research within this project lead to the design of a refuge for women and children, the design focused around the feeling of safety, trauma recovery and rehabilitation. Refuges and domestic violence services in the UK are subject to systemic underfunding and women and their children are often turned away from lifesaving opportunities. The refuge is located in Whitefield, Bury as Greater Manchester have the fewest bed spaces for women escaping violence in the country, relative to the size of it's population. This refuge is just one step in the womens route to safety, it helps them to escape abuse, rebuild their lives, find permanent accomodation and allows them to recover from a life of fear.
