Held: A Sanctuary for Healing
Held is a community centre and long-term accommodation for survivors of domestic abuse in Manchester designed to support recovery. The proposal combines secure residential rooms with shared domestic, social, childcare and therapeutic spaces organised around a protected internal courtyard. Informed by feminist and trauma-sensitive design principles, the project prioritises privacy, autonomy and emotional comfort through carefully controlled thresholds, considered spatial sequences, acoustic treatment and access to nature. Rather than relying on surveillance or restriction, safety is achieved through spatial design. The project proposes an alternative to institutional emergency housing, creating an environment that supports dignity, stability and gradual reconnection with community life.
