Architecture and Salutogenesis: A Design-Led Case Study of Police-Station Redesign and Perceived Affective Safety in Lahore

Amid declining public trust in law-enforcement institutions across many democratic societies, the role of the built environment in shaping everyday civic encounters remains under-examined. This paper defines Moral Architecture as the intentional design of institutional spaces to reduce stress, support psychological safety, and enable dignified interaction between authorities and the public, positioning the concept within established salutogenic and trauma-informed design traditions rather than as a standalone moral theory. Drawing on a single-case mixed-evidence study of the post-reform Qila Gujjar Singh Police Station in Lahore, Pakistan, the research examines how targeted modifications to spatial transparency, daylight access, acoustic conditions, and service layout correspond with observable changes in interactional behaviour. Administrative records, structured observations, and semi-structured interviews are analysed descriptively, with indicators such as changes in voluntary public reporting and recorded verbal confrontations treated as context-bound proxies of perceived psychological safety rather than direct mental-health outcomes. The paper applies the concepts of Guardian-Civic Design and Psychological-Moral Evaluation as analytic lenses for examining alignment between spatial design and service practices in policing environments. Findings indicate that architectural design can function as a form of preventive ethics by shaping the affective conditions under which authority is encountered, offering context-sensitive design insights for police planners, urban designers, and public institutions seeking legitimacy through environmental dignity rather than coercion. Implications: Design-led modifications to police-station environments may support more stable and less adversarial civic encounters by improving spatial legibility, moderating sensory load, and reducing interactional friction at points of entry and service. Relatively low-cost interventions—such as transparent reception interfaces, coherent circulation, and acoustic control—can complement procedural reforms by shaping how authority is experienced prior to formal engagement, while remaining contingent on maintenance, organisational alignment, and context-specific implementation.