Queer Architecture and the Facade (how it is used as a defense mechanism and a way of self-expression)

Abstract

Within this written thesis and in conjunction with a physical practice I will explore the complex nature of identity as a universal concept throughout humanity. Examining how it develops and changes through time as a fluid thing. From my perspective, as a gender and sexually queer, first generation American from Central Europe, I will speak to my experience within that framework of identity and how that relates to queerness as a whole. I will first focus on the role of othered identities in this society and how the relationship between the normative and non-normative creates tension and danger for these identities. Building a groundwork centered around the use and understanding of the facade as a means for self expression and self defense, as well as the necessity for space that allows for the freedom of identity expression and the physical space to safely do so. A place that I will refer to as queer architecture. To construct a basis for understanding what could potentially constitute queer architecture, I will first outline some of the reasons as to why the necessity of this space is paramount for persons residing within a non-normative identity. Highlighting some of the facets that constitute western queer architecture, to hone in on what places and conditions are necessary for its existence. In the second half I will focus on the aesthetics of this place while examining the themes, mythologies, histories, materials, and aesthetic decisions that are present within my own physical practice. With this work I want to construct a framework for what could possibly constitute queer architecture and its importance to those of non-normative identities, as well as bring up the politics of the body in relation to the feminine and the masculine as something that is intertwined, existing within a spectrum rather than within a system made up of binaries. Posing this as a place of potential, strength, acceptance, and freedom.