The project aims to create a safe place for women who have faced violent circumstances and need a space to heal. By utilizing nature, water and light as healing factors, the project demonstrates how a complex such as this can help the victim women heal. The design is proposed by Rafa Mashiyat Zahid, a student of BRAC University.
To better rehabilitate the women, a multitude of factors were taken into consideration when designing the complex. The first and foremost is security. Strong privacy measures needed to be taken to make sure they felt safe. This was achieved by dividing the site through a large water body so that the private part of the site was rendered practically inaccessible and then connecting the entire complex through a single path that ran through the administrative block and then became a bridge over the water body that essentially acts like a modern-day moat.
Furthermore, for their physical recuperation, a medical center was introduced, along with a psychological counseling unit for their mental health needs. To make sure they can go back to society stronger and more confident than before, a vocational training center was also introduced, which aims to teach the women skills like agriculture, handicrafts and IT. A space was also created for the women to sell anything they grow or make to the townspeople, honing their business acumen and socializing with the community, thus making them feel more connected to the world outside. Many of these women have children who come with them, so it was important to be mindful of that. A daycare with classrooms and ample playing spaces was designed inside.
The rehabilitation center also seeks to serve the community it is in. The site surveys showed a lack of medical service and stores in the community’s vicinity. Therefore, a medical center is designed to serve the residents of the complex as well as the people in the community. The project aims to provide a healing space for women who have gone through the worst possible treatment from their loved ones. This center is designed to witness the women’s journey from being victims to taking back the power, thus coming out as survivors.
