NO ROOM FOR VIOLENCE; Spatial Design as a Tool to Prevent Violence and Counteract Re-traumatization of Women Exposed to Domestic Violence.
Women aged 16–25 that are victims of domestic violence represent 67% of the total of people exposed to violence in Sweden. Yet the environments in which these women seek help – from the home to emergency clinics, police stations, and courtrooms – often are spaces that retraumatize rather than support. This PhD project explores how spatial design influences the psychological experiences of trauma, safety, power, alienation, and recovery among young women exposed to domestic violence.
The project investigates how spatial and material conditions interact with psychological processes in situations of vulnerability. It critically examines how interiors can act as co-agents in shaping survivors’ experiences, and how architectural interventions might serve as tools for violence prevention, emotional recovery, and social justice.
By combining artistic methods with spatial critique, the project aims to develop new knowledge and interior architectural solutions applicable both in domestic and public areas. It contributes to the growing research field of trauma, spatial justice, and institutional design.
Ultimately, the project repositions interior architecture as a critical and proactive actor in the societal transformation toward gender equality, safety, and social sustainability.
Jenna Gillinger’s artistic practice is situated at the intersection of interior architecture, design, and contemporary art, investigating how spatial environments shape human experience, social relations, and structures of power. Her work frequently engages with political questions concerning marginalized communities, equality and feminism.
Jenna is an interior architect and furniture designer with both Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from Konstfack, graduating in 2025. As a professional actor, singer and choreographer Jenna Gillinger also works across different disciplines with storytelling as the methodological foundation of her artistic practice, committed to the same central question: how artistic expression can create spaces for empathy, critical reflection, and social transformation.
Her work has been exhibited, published, and recognized in a range of national and international contexts, through scholarships, fundings, design awards and art exhibitions.
Main supervisor: Maja Willén
Admitted to: Konstfack
Project period: 2026-2030