Design philosophy strives to create beautiful, safe spaces

After working as an architect for decades, Scott Moir is looking at the built environment with new eyes.

An Associate at GWWO Architects, Moir recently achieved Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) Professional Certification. Moir embarked on the training program after the State of Maryland began requiring that design teams for K-12 projects include a certified CPTED practitioner.

Conceived in the 1960s, CPTED is based on the core tenet that “we can reduce crime by designing better places,” Moir said.

CPTED, however, rejects the notion that physically hardening buildings and sites against assault is the sole path to safety. Rather, it asks, “How do we design a community to be safer without making it look like a fortress?” Moir said.

The design philosophy is based on five principles: Natural Access Control, Territorial Reinforcement, Natural Surveillance, Maintenance, and Social Management.

On a grade school project, for example, those crime-prevention principles could be realized through a variety of design elements. Routes for vehicle and pedestrian circulation would be designed to intuitively guide people to a “celebrated entrance” and the path to that entrance would be clear and highly visible.

Windows and sightlines would be designed to ensure that personnel could see people approaching and entering the building, and anyone onsite could see that spaces were occupied and active.

“People are less likely to commit an offense when a space is active and there are a lot of eyes on you,” Moir said.

Providing a safe perimeter around a school, Moir said, could be achieved by “layering landscaping with plantings or boulders or site walls.”

Being “a good neighbor” and designing the space to engage the surrounding community – with a playground, sports field or other community space – would also enhance security.

“The principles of CPTED are just good design” and include elements that GWWO has already included in projects, he said. “But I am 100 percent looking at everything through a different lens than I used to after going through this course. It’s not because I didn’t know this information. I just didn’t think about it on a regular basis. This creates opportunities to go beyond what we have done previously and create better, safer spaces.”

CPTED, he added, can be applied to anything from a single building to a neighborhood to an entire city. Moir points to The Big Jump — the redesign of Druid Park Lake Drive and 28th Street as an example of CPTED principles in action.

The redesign, which aimed to provide a better connection between the Reservoir Hill and Remington neighborhoods, imposed a “road diet,” reduced the amount of vehicle lanes, and created a safe corridor for bicyclists, pedestrians and people using mobility devices. The project, Moir said, also puts more eyes on the street — a key tool in preventing crime.