How Fort & Castle Design Informs Architecture in an Era of Mass Shootings

adevarias
9 min readMay 17, 2022

The architectural reaction of a nation at war with itself.

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You don’t have to look far to know why talking about mass shootings is relevant. In an age with lax gun regulations, heightened political and racial tensions, and mass communications — mass shootings have, unfortunately, become a staple in our weekly news cycle.

This issue has not only permeated our state of ease and our sense of worth as a nation —but has ramified into many fields’ forefront imperative. For example, the world of Architecture is reacting and responding to what this new reality means when designing public-private spaces, like supermarkets, schools, and government buildings.

As history continues to repeat itself, the United States needs to be armed with buildings that ensure the protection of barbaric heathens. Are we in the Medieval U.S. period? You know, one that is motivated by skewed religious leaders that justify barbaric treatment and policy based on a God only they follow and then proceed to actively shove it down an ignorant population’s throat? Perhaps we’ll leave the philosophical speculations for a different time.

This article aims to use castle and military fort design precedents to inform how your public area could avoid more casualties. Some of these design…

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adevarias

Architectural designer crafting well-researched articles envisioning the future (and sometimes the past) of the built environment.