What Does Architecture for Security Look Like?

Ankita Rao explores a growing turn in architecture, and the culture that surrounds it, toward secure design. She writes:

Our culture of fear has changed the role of architecture in the United States… While legislators falter over gun control laws, architects and building designers are working to rethink the concept of a safe space.

Rao compares the built-in security measures of the Freedom Tower, the "behemoth" at the World Trade Center, to those of the outward-facing remodel of Sandy Hook Elementary School, where "natural surveillance" is encouraged. Both were rebuilt after devastating (and very different) attacks; their contrast points to the difficulty in striking what Rao terms "the balance between ominous and open" when designing for safety.