b. Killing Spatial Forensic

Spatial analysis is an integral part of the forensic process of obtaining evidence. The spatial skills of architects in analysis and representation can be put to good use in diverse fields. British architect and urban designer Alison Killing founded Killing Architects, a team of members from various disciplines who use knowledge of architecture and urban development and journalistic research to investigate urgent social issues. The team's expertise in forensic analysis of buildings and satellite imagery of buildings uncovered secret camps allegedly built by the Chinese government in the Xinjiang region to imprison Uighurs, Kazakhs and other Muslim minorities19 . While investigating the Xinjiang Camps, Aslion Killing discovered that Chinese mapping software "Baidu"was deliberately obscuring parts of the buildings in Xinjiang, masking the map in the form of a mosaic. Conversely, the mosaics are visible on Google Earth (Google was banned in mainland China in 201420), with the heavy concrete-walled buildings and guard towers surrounded by high fences21. In a collaboration between Killing Architects and BuzzFeed News, a study of the changes in the satellite map shows that the buildings are being expanded. A comparison of satellite maps from 18 months ago displayed that the camp had expanded ten-fold, and combine with 3D model of the building and an interior model showed that a camp could accommodate approximately 3,700 people22. According to Satellite images and Google Earth, it shows approximately 260 such buildings in the Xinjiang region with the sign of a fortified detention centre23. However, following the revelation of the Xinjiang Camps, the Chinese government denied their existence, paradoxically claiming that intensive education in eradicating "extremist ideology" and combating terrorism in the region had been a great success and that there was no racial detention. The Chinese government's repudiation does not remove the presence of the thick concrete buildings at Xinjiang camp. On the contrary, it proves that satellite maps and digital models play an significant role in spatial forensics, demonstrating that the architects have a unique perspective on spatial understanding. The combination of public data and spatial analysis has provided Killing Architects with a major breakthrough in the study of social issues, winning a Pulitzer Prize for its research on Xinjiang Camps24. She also as a first architect or urbanest to win that prize. Killing's investigations generally use architectural or urban software to construct prototype objects of investigation, using those to build digital models that can visualise evidence. Publicly available data from online media is also being collected, and the data collected is combined with digital models to build a more complete story of the event. For instance ,in the Migration Trail, Killing collected chat messages from victim's social media platforms and combined with the digital map to construct a complete incident25. Hence, the visualisation of the architectural technology with open data can be used as a more comprehensive forensic testimony.

Figure 5 A rendering of the camp at Mongolküre. Alison Killing for BuzzFeed News.Artwork :Kiliing.

19 Fred A Bernstein. “Newsmaker: Alison Killing.” Architectural Record 209, no. 8 (2021): 21. 20 Comparitech.“Is Google blocked in China and how can you access it?” 2022. https://www.comparitech.com/privacy-security-tools/blockedinchina/google 21 Megha Rajagopalan, and Alison Killing. "Review of Inside a Xinjiang Detention Camp." Buzzfeednews, December 2020. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/meghara/inside-xinjiang-detention-camp. 22 Megha Rajagopalan, Alison Killing, and Christo Buschek."China Secretly Built A Vast New Infrastructure To Imprison Muslims." Buzzfeednews, August 27,2020.https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ meghara/china-new-internment-camps-xinjiang-uighurs-muslims. 23 Rajagopalan."China Secretly Built A Vast New Infrastructure To Imprison Muslims." 24 Bernstein, “Newsmaker: Alison Killing.” 21. 25 Alison Killing. "Migration Trail." 2022. https://www.migrationtrail.com/.