Post Binary Design: On our way to a fundamental change

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It’s been more than a century since C.R. Mackintosh undertook the design of one of the buildings of the Glasgow School of Art (1897-1909), which not only made the architect famous but also constituted the first building that didn’t divide space based on gender. Unfortunately, however, this particular work by Mackintosh was an exception and not the rule in the evolution of architecture and design towards a direction that aims for inclusion. Studies - the most important by Β. Colomina, Paul Preciado and Joel Sanders- for an agender, non-binary approach have been discussed within the community and have the potential to improve the individual’s expression through space. 

Architecture and design as representation

Indeed, society has always functioned (from everything related to everyday life to the architectural design of public and private spaces) as a way of signalling the social and economic status of each individual, as well as their gender. From the prohibition of female participants in the ancient Olympics, while the female naked form was showcased in sculptures, to the gynaeceum and the separate marital bedrooms by Leon Battista Alberti in the Renaissance, gender is divided, sexualised and isolated to not provoke. And despite all the efforts for the spatial co-existence of the two genders, with the leading example of the aforementioned C.R. Mackintosh building, segregation based on gender or sexuality remains visible. Of course, for several centuries this separation and the feeling of shame regarding sexuality have not only concerned straight people and mainly women. The LGBTQ+ community has been burdened and isolated the most since the “hospitality” spaces for homosexual couples are most of the time either not mentioned at all or concealed within spaces meant for straight people.

A very interesting observation by Patricia White about the "concealment" of gay sexuality, in B. Colomina's Sexuality and Space (1992), makes a reference to The Haunting (1963), a horror film directed by Robert Wise. In the movie, the “Hill House” is transformed into a house where the main heroine, Eleanor, explores her lesbian identity while developing a peculiar dependence on the house, which had been the death place of many women. According to White, even though in the end the lesbian desire is defeated (the heroine dies within the house) it remains there, never to be forgotten.

Scene from The Haunting | Image Source: m.media-amazon.com

Elizabeth Grosz’s article, featured in the aforementioned book, suggests a more postmodern view of sexuality and space: the city is one of the crucial factors in the social production of (sexed) corporeal bodies: the built environment provides the context … for most contemporary … forms of the body. Unfortunately, the writer did not elaborate on this specific idea. 

But still, two questions arise from the above: what sort of approach befits the theoretical research and practical application of a non-binary architectural development and design, and what is the role of the modern and postmodern trend in establishing the “gender borders” of space?

From the ‘Τechnology of gender’ to Masculinity studies

From both Foucault’s studies on sexuality and the term “technology of sex” as well as Teresa de Lauretis’ “Τechnology of gender”, we are led to the study of masculinity in architectural design, which up until then had been neglected a lot. Perhaps the issue was considered negligible since up until the 90s -when studies first began- both the public and private spaces that were “on display” were meant for heterosexual white men. 

The research of Beatriz Colomina and Leslie Kaynes Weisman constituted a breakthrough in the aforementioned design mindset and theoretical approach, while the expansion of the study of spaces, based on gender and particularly the queer community, brought forth a general discussion about architecture and sexuality. At the same time, Colomina and Weisman’s work paved the way for queer scholars like Aaron Betsky, Henry Urbach and Joel Sanders, who introduced terms like the “production of masculinity”. In fact, the latter, in his book Stud: Architectures of Masculinity (1996) inspects the four determined patterns (dressing wall surfaces, demarcating boundaries, distributing objects, and organising gazes) that can define gender through their repetition and visibility in architectural composition. Thus, the more visible and repeated these patterns are in all areas of everyday life, the more consciousness about gender is strengthened, in this instance the masculinity of individuals. Despite all this, the book ends with a paradox: many of the decorative patterns of predominantly "straight spaces", such as monasteries, etc., are also used in the decoration of queer spaces, with the ultimate contradiction being public toilets since these, although segregated, end up being sexual meeting places for many queer people.

Playboy Penthouse Apartmen | Image Source: images.squarespace-cdn.com

The question, however, of how this "visibility of masculinity" was practically achieved can be answered if one considers the Playboy Penthouse Apartment, referenced in Sanders' book and extensively analysed in Paul Beatriz Preciado's thesis. The thesis, published in 2014, explores the economy of desire, which changed the understanding of masculinity in postwar America, while with the phrase “mythical masculinity, able to withstand the heterosexual crisis during the 20th century and to confront the challenges posed by feminine liberation and the transgender utopia” it describes the status quo of the time, which also prevails today perhaps for the most part, predominantly in western societies. Describing Hugh Hefner’s villas as “alternative erotic topos to the suburban family house’ and with that ‘the possibility of a further ‘revolution” sets the foundations for changing the way of understanding the role of the straight man in the home, which, according to Colomina, functioned as a set where the woman was either hidden within its most private rooms or became visible always through the male gaze. Moreover, according to her, the above mindset is also reflected in the interior design of Adolf Loos and Le Corbusier, who, even though they designed based on practicality, extended, in essence, the understanding of the house based on gender. According to the two researchers, what changed because of Playboy's Penthouse Apartment was the fact that, as stated in the thesis: ‘not only ways of seeing, but also ways of segmenting and inhabiting space, along with affects and modes of pleasure production’. Thus, sexual pleasure is no longer confined behind the closed doors of Alberti’s bedrooms but is omnipresent and visible, subtracting feelings of shame. 

Contemporary attempts form a non-binary architecture

The thoughts of scholars such as B. Colomina, P.B. Preciado and J. Sanders arguably paved the way for a different approach to theories of spatial representation and planning, and how they operate and affect gender. On one hand, Sanders explores biotechnological design to provide individuals with places that aim for a free, non-binary coexistence, while Preciado's study proves that gender and sexuality can transcend any stereotypically fixed sexual identity.

Efforts to achieve neutral spaces in order to create non-heteronormative societies are beginning to emerge and provide some encouraging evidence for the future. The goal of architectural and interior design today is the inclusion of all individuals in public and private spaces and we seem to be gradually entering an era of viewing equality not merely as an element of tolerance but as honest acceptance. But, in order to move forward, we have to define and understand just how deeply rooted the problem is. Hannah Rozenberg, a graduate of the Royal College of Art, demonstrates it in an easy and somewhat unexpected way. Building Without Bias is an app, curated by her with the help of a friend, in which it is measured, through an algorithm similar to that of Google Translate, how much each word is identified with the masculine or feminine linguistic designation. Thus, words like “concrete” or “steel” are identified through “gender units” (GU) with the male gender, while “glass” or kitchen” with the female. 

Image Source: archdaily.com

Another initiative by Rozenberg is the design of various buildings and open spaces in the St. James area of London, where gentlemen's clubs and the overly male element prevail. By employing objects that count as zero on the "GU" scale of Building Without Bias, Rozenberg was able to create spaces that were algorithmically gender-neutral, succeeding in showing that there is a way to design neutrality. However, she notes that the results are not completely non-binary since the final appearance of the spaces will once again be measured by software to confirm its neutrality. 

Rozenberg uses elements such as language and technology to achieve the desired inclusion of everyone in the space. From this, we understand that, although the ever-increasing use of technology through various apps reinforces the idea of ​​profit, initiatives such as Rozenberg's can elevate a mainly neutral medium to a mechanism that can help us design practically for everyone without the prejudices and stereotypes of the past. However, this is only a hypothesis and only time can confirm it.

Πηγές/ Further reading

Adam Nathaniel Furman. Outrage: the prejudice against queer aesthetics. From: architectural-review.com

Elizabeth Wilson. Sexuality and Space edited by Beatriz Colomina. harvarddesignmagazine.org

Pol Esteve. Binary code: technologies of gender. architectural-review.com

Βuilding Without Bias app by Hannah Rozenberg at: building-without-bias.co.uk