Jamaica and an Architecture of Safety (2025)
Project Researcher: RRA
During a research trip to Kingston, Jamaica, lead researcher Victoria McKenzie was presented with an opportunity to work on an architectural project with her Uncle. One afternoon she witnessed her Uncle going to build a ‘safe house’ so she asked him what he was building safety from. He explained to her that the safe house was for the girls at the Island’s oldest school ‘Wolmers Trust High School for Girls”. Many of the girls were either being sexually assaulted in the home, on their way to and from school, and some, even kidnapped, never making it to the classroom. Her Uncle looked at her and said “How can they ever get an education if they can’t even make it to the classroom?”
This question began an ongoing research project for RRA which contemplates what an architecture of safety could look like. Are there pre-colonial examples that understand ‘safety’ as a material for design? Has there ever been a space of safety, in particular, for women’s bodies? What materials and conceptual tools would safety require?