Architecture of Gender

This research methods workshop offered an interdisciplinary introduction to gender and (more recent) queer theories in their application to the history and theory of architecture, and in relation to the current reframing of design practices from the perspective of diverse identification and non-normative (e.g. non-binary, trans*) forms of embodiment. Departing from this contemporary vantage point, the workshop consisted of two interconnected components: a theoretical, reading and discussion-based part in which participating students critically engaged with key positions by Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Mark Wigley, Paul B. Preciado, Londa Schiebinger, Aimi Hamraie, Henry Urbach and Jack Halberstam; and a practical research and creative writing part in which the theoretical tools drawn from those (and other) readings were utilised in the analysis and writing of a specific local site / built object. A series of short exercises around bibliographic searches, the role of evidence, the politics of citation and alternative writing strategies acted as bridge between these two components, and introduced participants to alternative feminist and queer research and writing strategies to counter dominant modes of knowledge production.

The theory part of the workshop asked about ways that gender and architecture are interrelated. If gender is socially constructed and performative, ‘a practice of improvisation within a scene of constraint’, as Judith Butler argues, then what role does architecture concretely play in this construction beyond the merely metaphorical? How does architecture, or the built environment more broadly, set the stage for the improvised act of gender? How do built structures not only represent sexual difference, but also serve to establish and maintain separate spheres for men and women, and thus produce gendered subjectivities? Moreover, how might architecture, rather than just provide shelter for the human body, actually contribute to the making of bodies insofar as it renders scientific knowledge about the former material through norms, standards and building codes? And finally, if modern binary notions of gender and material environments are mutually co-constructed, can they be unbuilt, and if so, how?

The practical research and writing component led to the production of a series of collectively authored ‘site-writings’. In these experimental word-image pieces, which combine analytical and speculative / fictional elements, objective and subjective voices, as well as different media, students explored and unpacked aspects of gender and sexuality in relation to particular sites and buildings within Greater Manchester. Over the course of the semester, the students have acquired the following skills:

• Analyse and understand the built environment using gender and sexuality as methodological lenses;
• Engage with seminal texts from a transdisciplinary perspective;
• Conduct research, using appropriate primary (e.g. archival) and secondary sources, oral history etc.;
• Produce a bibliography and literature review;
• Gain a critical understanding of the production of knowledge, and develop alternate strategies to effectively challenge, contest and counter established paradigms;
• Communicate research through alternative formats and creative writing exercises; Develop graphic design and presentation skills (booklet production).