Think of where you feel most secure. Lying fully prone on a warm beach or snuggled in your own bed? Lost in swirling crowds during a lunchtime break or hiking in the high country? Few would answer, “Behind locked doors and high walls.” As psychologist Richard Farson has observed, the term “security” is bound in paradox: Where security systems assert themselves most forcefully—in prisons, for example—fear, discomfort, and even danger often flourish; conversely, the absence of visible protection can promote the feeling of well-being.

In recent months, security by design has leaped from a single item on the architect’s programmatic checklist to the headlines. Architects and other design professionals are engaging in a national debate, spawning a mini-industry of consultants, Web sites, and AIA conferences in their wake, to discuss safety and security for the built environment. If you take Farson’s point, however, you quickly realize that security engages both fact (statistical reality) and perception, with design at the fulcrum, balancing the two.